And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God”.

– Zechariah 13:9

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

From this prophecy, we can see that experiencing trials and refinements is a necessary path for us believers in God to attain salvation. For only through experiencing God’s work of refinement and purification can our corruption get cleansed. And only then can our faith, love, and the knowledge of God increase, and can we have true reverence and adoration for God.

It is just as a passage of words says: “The truth is not inherently possessed by man, and is not easily understood by those who have been corrupted by Satan; man is devoid of the truth, and devoid of the resolve to put the truth into practice, and if he does not suffer, and is not refined or judged, then his resolve will never be made perfect. For all people, refinement is excruciating, and very difficult to accept—yet it is during refinement that God makes plain His righteous disposition to man, and makes public His requirements for man, and provides more enlightenment, and more actual pruning and dealing; through the comparison between the facts and the truth, He gives man a greater knowledge of himself and the truth, and gives man a greater understanding of God’s will, thus allowing man to have a truer and purer love of God. Such are God’s aims in carrying out refinement.” From these words we can know that trials and refinements are painstakingly arranged by God to perfect us. Only when we accept them with courage like former apostles and prophets can we understand God’s loveliness, cast away our corruption, just like the ore which was remade entirely into quality steel after being tempered.