The Refining process of God

By Rafik Daudjee ,

James 1:2-4

2            Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3            because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

4            Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

(NIV)

God calls us to consider it pure Joy when you face trials and these trails can be of many kinds .  These trials are tests of OUR faith in God  that He  will release in our life to develop perseverance OR PATIENCE . ( NKJV )   And the process of building this patience continues on so that we may be mature and perfect ( or NKJV says perfect and and complete )

Christian life is not name it and claim it and frame it, neither is it a bed of roses , it is not what you want you get it ,no , it is not; Our life will go through the refining process as the gem cutter grinds the stone and with all its friction and heat  until it becomes beautiful and  well cut bringing it value and making it perfect and complete.  Gods intention in bringing trials is to not to hurt us. Temptations are from the enemy and they are meant to make us fall, sin and separate us from the fellowship  we have with God , but trials are to drive us to God .

A little boy made a boat .He went off in a high glee to sail it on the water .But presently, it got beyond his reach .In His distress he appealed to a bog a boy for help ,asking him to get it back from for him. Saying nothing , the big boy picked up stones , and seemingly threw them at the boat , the little boy thought he would never get his boat back, instead of helping him the big boy was annoying him . But soon he noticed  that instead of hitting the boat , each stone went BEYOND it , and made a little wave , which moved the little boat nearer to the shore . Every throw of the stone was Planned , and at last the little boat was brought within reach. Hw happy the little boy was , again he was in possession of his treasure ! Sometimes , things in our life seems disagreeable and without sense or plan , But let us WAIT a while , and we shall see each trial , each striking of a stone upon the quiet water of our life ,has brought us nearer to God

Judge not the a Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for his grace;

Behind a frowning providence ,

He has a smiling face!

God releases four major tests  that causes our faith to grow and mature perfecting us . We count it all joy so that we may receive the crown of life and be like him . Hebrews gives us a list of heroes of God who were tested in their faith though they never quite arrived . God does not give us a road map  but a compass heading showing us a direction to go he says go north and we go, do this and we do  and south and as we obey God blesses us and opens a greater blessing . We will look at Abraham how God tested his faith .

I.                   Test of a major change Hebrews 11:8

Heb 11:8

8          By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Gen 12:1-4

1          The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2          "I will make you into a great nation

4          So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

God leads us into wilderness .One of the tests that God puts us into is a test of major change to get our  attention . It may be a change from the comfort zone to an unknown area of lifeit can be a change of place , a change of job, a change of health , called to start something new , launch into a unknown zone , a personal crisis,  in family often such times can be lonely times , with no friends to understand your situation . The common folks you walked around with are no more there. The family, friends and the comfort zone  and  familiar surroundings are not there.

God got Moses attention in the desert, for Joseph in prison , Paul on the way to Damascus by blinding him for three days and for Abraham out of the his land , family and friends to an unknown land .

All of them were led to a future that they did not know where they were going ! Where is the Lord leading you ?  What is the your present situation ? A major change in health , family, crisis , job , place ?  For God maybe wanting to get your attention here .

My Testimony

In 1986 , God called us away from our good job, home and country when he said we were to go to  EAST Bible school / NIST seminary  in 1986-1991. The  five years in Nairobi, Kenya  were difficult and trying times  where God caught our attention and gave us a clear vision of our calling  perfected ,matured us  in our life as a family  and Maria only nine months old  . During these times with Safia also studying all the five years , God blessed us with Sarah and Razia with untold test upon our life in matters of hospital fees, housing, food and milk for children together with the load of studies , ministry and family life. But,  God gave us success and  perfected us in  the vision that he had called us , strengthening us in our faith and in our relationship with God. That was the place we grew in faith .

II.                Test of a delayed promise - Hebrews 11:9

Heb 11:9-10

9    By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

10  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham went to the land that God would give ; but while in the land he had to live as stranger as in foreign land. Living in tents .

Imagine,  someone promises you a house and you have to live  outside that house in the garden in tent .The man of the house tell you to come into the house yet you live in the garden or out-house as a guest . Thats frustrating. So wonder ,what kind of promise is this ?  Abraham was like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents.  Though God  had promised him ;

Gen 12:5-10

5    He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

6    Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

7    The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

8    From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

9    Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

10  Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

You see from the scriptures that Abraham did not acquire the land promised by God to him and his offspring immediately. There was such a delay as Abraham moved in circles and place to place living in and out of tents all the time. God will do this in our life to test us .Before a promise would be fulfilled there might be a waiting period and seeming delay of what he has promised. You may be questioning God the same . Dont you know that when God gives a vision he will kill it and give birth again ?  For often the vision God gives us  we want to fulfill it by our own abilities , education , experience and own methods. Only God fulfills by his own power what he calls us to do .  There might be a delay in the promise so that God may develop our characters by this test.  Often young people want things fast and are very impatient .But God develops patience in us to perfection.  Someone said God misses a lot of good opportunities to be early

III. Test of Impossible problem  

Heb 11:11

11  By faith Abraham, even though he was past age-- and Sarah herself was barren-- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.

The faithful God allows tests of impossible problems . he will bring you to place where your mind , abilities , finances will have no answers . You may find contradictions in his promises . he asks you to preach when you are so afraid to stand in front of people. He will ask you to plant church  where you could never imagine you could go. He gives you visions , a call where your natural abilities will cry No . I cannot do that task or I never will achieve that standard for  God  !!! I am Old now I cannot be a missionary or I am too young, I have no money, how can I build a church ? 

God had told Abraham that he would be a father of many nations .. Now he must be wondering how God would do this as he was past age 100 yrs old and his wife 90 years old .Impossible isnt it ?

Gen 12:2

2    "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; (NIV) A man who is called out from his land and people into another land and you wonder how you will become into a great Nation  ? or even a family ? as he had no children and his growing old. And God is saying

Gen 12:7

 "To your offspring I will give this land." (NIV) . years are  passing by and  After a while ,  God again speaks to him

Gen 15:1-4

1    After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

2    But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

3    And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

4    Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.

Abraham had become afraid and thought about Gods plan and ability and so God comforts him and tells him not to be afraid . Abraham argues concerning the promise and thinks that his servant Eliezer would be  the heir,  maybe through him God would bring about a nation. But God emphasizes that Elieze would not be the heir to the nation but that one coming from your own body . God expands his vision now

Gen 15:5-6

5    He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-- if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

6    Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

 Time is passing by , the situation is becoming more impossible . The test is getting harder. Sarah now eyes on Hagar who maybe would be the source of Abrahams offspring

Gen 16:1-2

1    Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;

2    so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Gen 16:15-16

15  So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

16  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Years keep on going on , and Gods promise to Abraham has not fully been realized. He is now approaching 99 years old and God appears to him again.

Gen 17:1-3

1    When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.

2    I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."

3    Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

Gen 17:5-6

5    No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

6    I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

Gen 17:15-17

15  God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.

16  I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

17      Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

Abraham still thinks that it is Ishmael. ( verse 18 ) But , God says No , It is not Ishmael but   your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.(  Gen 17:19 ) 

Days are passing by and the Bible says

Gen 17:24-25

24      Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

25  and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

and God send angels to see Abraham and now they are really old to think about children  and the three angels ask for Sarah.

Gen 18:9-12

9    "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said.

10  Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

11      Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

12  So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

But God answers them again with a promise :

Gen 18:14

14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

 And in

Gen 21:1-2

1    Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

2    Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him        .at the set time(KJV)

Abraham was now 100 years old. what is impossible to me may not be impossible to you. This was an impossible problem  but not for God. And when we have gone through the refining process of faith in such impossible situations we come out strong and matured. We need to encourage one another . What is your situation ? education , childrens education ? , Finances, job , relationships ? healing ? you need a child ? Husband , wife ? We often think if I was like so and so or had this or that ,I could have achieved  what I need  or if only I had a certain experience God has impossible problems tailored to you and me personally to refine us and cause us to draw close to God to trust Him and when God throws an impossible situation to you God is able to solve the problem for  he has the answers to those impossible problems .

IV . Test of Senseless Challenge

Heb 11:17

17  By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,

Abraham had t wait , suffer all these years to get what God had promised, then suddenly God tells him to  give that up .. Give it away, sacrifice it for me  God will test us in this .The thing that we were praying for God calls it to give up away .Often it may be finances, your education , your nation or your job. There are times we pray for money and then all of suddenly God speaks to you one fine day that give the money to so and so . You wonder. Is that really making sense Lord ? I worked hard all the time and earned what I had been praying about and then suddenly you now ask me to give it away ? Gods plan is not to injure us . when God told me to resign from Medicine it sounded absurd and many still think that it is senseless. But I had to give up what I loved.

Sometimes we are helped by being hurt. A skilled physician about to perform a delicate operation upon the ear said reassuringly , I may hurt you , but I will not injure you . How often the great physician speaks to us the same message . If we could only listen ! Richer life, more abundant health for every child of his , is His only purpose . Why defeat that purpose.

Gen 22:2

2    Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

(NIV)

 God will often ask us to lay down things that we love and things we were promised. He tests us . DO WE TRUST HIM TILL THE END ? DO WE BELIVE IN HIS PURPOSES Gods path for us is often not A to B but sometimes its  circles . God  said to Abraham

Gen 22:16-18

16  and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17  I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

18  and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

(NIV)

 God wants to perfect us in our refining processes to teach us to Obey him. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Gen 23:1

1    Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. That was really something. She really would become Sarah a mother of many nations and for Abraham God blessed him surely .

Gen 24:1

1        Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

An ant was carrying a piece of straw a piece of straw which seemed a big burden for it. The ant came to a crack in the earth which was too wide to cross. It stood for a time as though pondering the situation , then put the straw across the crack and walked over upon it. Here is lesson for all mankind ! A mans burden can be made a bridge for his progress

 .