I was learning how to operate the linotype. As I typed each letter, it imprinted it in a lead slug. After the slugs were used to print, they were melted in a smelting pot. That caused the dross (ink) to come to the surface and be skimmed off. Then the lead could be used again.

Our trials place our faith into a crucible of fire. The Lord extracts the lies the enemy has planted in our hearts. He skims off the dross. Zechariah 13:9 was written about Israel, but we can apply it to our lives. It says that He, “…will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, This is My people; and each one will say, The Lord is my God.”

Isaiah 55:3 says, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” Incline means to listen favorably. Is your ear tuned to the Lord? We can’t hear Him when our complaining heart is louder than His still small voice.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.” Our own understanding is developed through the perceptions we have made throughout our lives.

Here is the definition of perception from Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary. “Receiving impression by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. We gain knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception.”

Faith is not a perception, it is a substance according to Hebrews 11:1. It says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Job was in a hard trial. In Job 23:8 he said, “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him.”

I love verse 10. It says, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” We know from Philippians 1:7 that our fiery trials are purifying our faith from any doubts, fears, or unbeliefs. Hard trials expose hidden dross.

God stepped in to rescue His people. He rolled back the waters of the Red Sea. The children of Israel passed over on dry ground. Pharaoh, with his army of chariots followed them. Exodus 14:24 says that He troubled them. Verse 25 says, “And He took off their chariot wheels…” 

Verse 27 says, “…the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” Verse 28 says, “…Not so much as one of them returned.”

I recently watched an expedition where millions of dollars were put up for divers to go down into that part of the Red Sea. They took pictures of the chariot wheels, and saw the path that was strewn with wreckage.

Psalm 78:40-41 says, “How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” Sobering words. I encourage you to ask the Lord how you may be limiting Him from miraculously intervening in your life? 

1 Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and that they were written for our admonition…” All means without exception. What things? Verses 1-10 were examples from the lives of the children of Israel.

Let me recap a few. They were severely oppressed Egyptian slaves. Exodus 2:23 says that they, “…groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.”

Through Moses and Aaron, the Lord plagued the Egyptians, until finally the Pharaoh told them to go out and worship their God. As they wandered through the wilderness, the Lord was a cloud by day to shade them, and a fire by night so they could see.

Throughout their journey they complained. Then when they were blocked in by the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s army was descending upon them ~ they blamed Moses. In Exodus 14:12 they stated what was in their hearts. It says, “…It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians…” How like them we can be when we face impossible circumstances ~ blame others.

I often go back to 1 Chronicles 28:9. In the Amplified it says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts…” Hebrews 4:12 in the Amplified says of His word, It goes down, “…(of the deepest parts of our nature), exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”

Verse 13 continues, “…all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.” Revelation 1:14 says, “…His eyes like a flame of fire.”

Ask Him what is in your heart. Then humble yourself before Him. Let no pride block you from hearing His words. Knowing that He knows, gives us the emotional freedom to be transparent and self-revealing without fear.

1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment…” Fear is a spirit that torments our mind, will, and emotions.” Fear casts a tormenting shadow that blocks the knowledge of the fullness of His love for us.

John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 10:10 amplifies that life as, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The Strong’s definition for abundantly: superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, more than sufficient.

We dwell in His Presence through intimate communion. As we are still before Him, He reveals anything hidden that is casting shadows over our faith. Mark 4:22 says, “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”

I’m grateful that the Lord knows my heart. Through His impeccable timing, He will reveal anything that is blocking His purpose in our lives. His trials are strategically designed and masterfully orchestrated to consume any wood, hay, or straw. 1 Corinthians 3:12. He brings the hidden dross to the surface, so we can recognize, confess, and renounce (disown) it.

Psalm 104:1-2 is so picturesque. It says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.”

Our Creator dwells in light. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

When I was young I learned how to cast shadows on the wall. Some as small as my hand could be huge on the wall. I was thinking about verse 17. No matter what God does in our lives, He never casts a shadow.

Doubt, fear, unbelief are shadows. The enemy of our soul takes something small and makes it loom big and threatening. He casts shadows over our faith to destroy it from within. Our heart is our belief center. He uses his wiles to entrap us.

1 John 1:5 says, “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

Can you picture Zephaniah 3:17? It says, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Psalm 36:8 says, “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.” Jeremiah 31:14 says, “I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”

We are to emulate the Lord in every aspect of our lives. David wrote Psalm 40. Verse 8 says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.” Psalm 119:16 says, “I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”

Verse 47 says, “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes.” “I will” are two words emphasizing an intentional choice. The Lord delights in us choosing to delight in Him through abiding.

Let’s rehearse the Lord’s choices. Ephesians 1:4 says that He chose us before the foundation of the world. In Genesis 1:26 we read that the Trinity chose to create us in their image for relationship. Jesus chose to die for everyone, because we all sinned.

Note: the fruit from abiding has nothing to do with us. Rather it comes through our intimate communion with the Lord ~  resulting in fruit that glorifies Him alone.

Communing with the Lord is a choice of self-disclosure. We come to Him knowing that He knows our hearts. Nothing is hidden. Here are two lines from a new song. “I lift my unveiled face to gaze into Your face. Face to face I behold You as You behold me.”

We can’t define Infinite with finite minds. John 14:21 says that He reveals Himself to those who love Him. Abiding is communion of Heart to heart. I have found that it is in the crucible of my trials that He reveals Himself in ways I never knew Him before. Such amazing love that He would choose to commune with us.

Have you ever thought about how everything we do is a choice? Every thought and action is a choice. I was communing with the Lord before my day started. I asked Him what fruit is that remains, coupled with the fruit we bear through abiding in Him.

John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Verses 4-5 say, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Verse 8 says, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” Abiding is a choice. Have you made that choice to set aside time to be with Him?