Exhausted Faith, Enduring the Refining

We all experience moments in our faith when it feels like taking one more step, praying one more prayer, reading one more scripture is too much.

When you’re in this place you can find yourself considering if life before Jesus was as awful as you once thought.

If allowed to linger, this thought will tempt you to question whether following this path of faith is really worth it?

If that’s where you are, I want to challenge you to see this exhaustion from a different perspective. Rather than seeing it as an excuse to give up on God, what if you saw it for exactly what it is – an invitation to know Him better.
But before we go any further, let’s acknowledge it’s easy in these circumstances to allow our human mindset to take over. It’s hard to press on when your flesh is begging you to give up. It really is.

God never promised an easy path. He promised the path is worth it.

Truth is, the Enemy of our soul does not want us to see our deliverance sits just on the other side of exhaustion. He doesn’t want us going deeper in our relationship with Jesus. The deeper you go the more effective you become, which means his hold on this world is weakened. Consequentially, he battles us tooth and nail especially in times like this.

Tired friend, don’t be deceived.

God’s invitation to know Him better still stands. If you find yourself in this place, I want to share Job 23:10 with you, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

If anyone experienced a trial that would cause them to question their faith – it was Job. The battle he endured would cause anyone to turn tail and run, yet he pushed through. He held on, and God had a blessing for him on the other side.

There’s a popular song that says, “I want to be tried by the fire, purified…” As I sing that song, I often catch myself thinking do we really mean these words? “No one in their right mind wants to be tried by fire.” I burn my finger on my curling iron, and I’m whining for days. It hurts. It REALLY does…so singing I want to be tried by a fire…I’m not so sure I’m up for that. However, Looking further at what Job experienced, and the purpose of the trying causes us to think more critically. If we’re willing to persevere, this trying will take us to a place where whining about the burn is no longer an option and instead of running away, and whining we’ll find ourselves bowing, and confessing.

Truth is, the things we experience in this world are used to refine us.

We often don’t look at them this way, but it’s truth. We are the clay in the Potter’s hand. He consistently works to mold us into the creation He purposed us to be. There are things in our fallen state that have no business being there. Gold’s trying process converts impurities to a different form. This form causes their detachment from the gold. Resulting in the magnification of the gold’s worth.

Think about that. In its original state, there are foreign things that have attached themselves to that precious metallic element. Likewise, there are unfamiliar things that attach themselves to us. Things that God never intended to adhere to us; worry, anxiety, depression, stress, addiction, control issues, pride, selfishness, jealousy, bitterness, envy, and the list goes on and on.

These things, just like foreign articles to gold, minimize the depth of our true beauty from being revealed. In response, God chooses to use circumstances which serve as our own refiner of sorts. Through them, He works to purge these pollutants from us. Our flesh likes it just about as much that curling iron burn I mentioned previously.

But this purge albeit painful, is less annoying and every bit purposeful and required. Just as the melting process causes the impurities to release themselves from the gold – these circumstances cause our own contaminants to release their hold on us.

The purpose of gold being tried in the fire is to magnify it’s worth.

The trying brings it to a place where it’s beauty is on full display. Where It’s value can not be mistaken. The same is true for us. When we choose to bow to the Lord’s will – these times will strip away the worldliness from our lives and in doing so magnify the Glory of God placing Him on display for all to see.

Friend, this world is not our home. We are only passing through. Our purpose is to live a life that prompts others to seek the joy that we have. It is an honor to display the Glory of God. If revealing His glory means we have to endure some refining, then let’s be refined. I don’t like these moments, but I need them, and so do you.

Let’s choose to focus less on the trying, and more on the gold revealed.. Let’s be gold for Him. Let’s choose the refining.  

To hear more on enduring an exhausted faith – check out Episode 6 on the She Chooses Podcast