Feeling the heat in Your life?

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and
they wondered what
this statement meant about the character and nature of
God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of
refining silver
and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an
appointment to
watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about
the reason for
her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of
refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of
silver over the
fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining
silver, one
needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire
where the flames
were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot
spot; then she
thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as
a refiner and
purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it
was true that he had to sit
there in front of the fire the whole time the silver
was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit
there holding the
silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the
entire time it
was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too
long in the flames,
it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the
silversmith,
"How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy --
when I see my image in it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire,
remember that God has
his eye on you and will keep watching you until He
sees His image in you.