Yesterday I shared the journey I went on starting with Proverbs 10:20 and the verses at which I subsequently checked. You can see my journey in the page from my journal below.
The phrase that got my attention was the notion that the words of the righteous are described as choice silver. Choice silver is refined. My wife and I watched a silversmith refining silver at Colonial Williamsburg. It is a long process. The silver is heated and the dross rises to the surface the silversmith removes the dross. He then heats it again and repeats the process.
In the passages that I looked at yesterday the Lord is depicted as the silversmith. His Word has been refined seven times. He refines us through the furnace of affliction. The image is of His intentional heating us up to remove the dross from our life. He then tests us to see the result and then reapplies the process.
It is through His Word and the process of His refining that our words become as choice silver. This is neither an overnight nor a quick, rapid, or easy process. It takes time. Time in His pure Word and working that into our lives through applying it in the crucible of His discipline. There are several references to this process in the New Testament, James 1:2 – 4; 1 Peter, Romans 5:3 – 5; and Hebrews 12:4 – 16 came to mind as I was working through this last night.
Bottom line, it takes time for us to be refined by our Lord. It is neither a quick or painless process. But the result is that we will speak into the lives of those whom He has given us to serve more effectively. Having the tongue of the righteous sounds like a really good thing to have. Though I am not all that excited about the process to obtain it.
In the passages that I looked at yesterday the Lord is depicted as the silversmith. His Word has been refined seven times. He refines us through the furnace of affliction. The image is of His intentional heating us up to remove the dross from our life. He then tests us to see the result and then reapplies the process.
It is through His Word and the process of His refining that our words become as choice silver. This is neither an overnight nor a quick, rapid, or easy process. It takes time. Time in His pure Word and working that into our lives through applying it in the crucible of His discipline. There are several references to this process in the New Testament, James 1:2 – 4; 1 Peter, Romans 5:3 – 5; and Hebrews 12:4 – 16 came to mind as I was working through this last night.
Bottom line, it takes time for us to be refined by our Lord. It is neither a quick or painless process. But the result is that we will speak into the lives of those whom He has given us to serve more effectively. Having the tongue of the righteous sounds like a really good thing to have. Though I am not all that excited about the process to obtain it.
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