Reading your Bible for Today November 29

November 28: Proverbs 17:3

KJV Key Verse: Proverbs 17:3
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Devotion:
When I was just starting to learn about Gods ways as a young Christian, one of the seniors at school told us about how narrow and winding the path is towards Heaven. I related to that because my path was difficult growing up in a boys only boarding school with many temptations to take me off the path; but walking with God made those days so much easier because I realised He was walking with me... But, I did not listen close enough to that lesson!

Being a Christian does not mean everything is going to run smoothly for the rest of your life. When we are far from God, He will try to do or allow things in our lives to bring us closer to Him. We may not notice the things He does and we may not realise that it is Him doing it. But when we sit down and look back on our lives we can see the pattern of events in our lives which have lead us to make the decisions we have, the pattern laid down by God.

The closer we get to Christ, the more we are able to find out and the more we notice what He does in our lives. But, the closer we get to Him, the harder it can become. Satan does not like the fact we are getting closer to God and will continue to throw everything He has in our way to try and get us to falter in some way. God will allow some of those things to reach us so we can become stronger.

In order to get a precious metal to a more pure state, the heat has got to be seriously cranked up so the impurities can be burned off! The last few impurities are normally quite difficult to separate and require the most heat. We have all sorts of habits in our lives which we have learned from everyone around us. God wants to get rid of some of those habits. They may well be the ones which we have been doing the longest and they may well be the hardest to get rid of! So if we think life is going to be plain sailing – we had better think again! God will continue to strive to make us more like Christ. In order to do that, the heat may well be turned up more than we think we can bear. But since He is in control, He does know exactly how much to turn the heat up to get us straight!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when your friends are bad, or do you try to stop them?

Do you think God will stand by idly and what you do bad things?