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[Songs in the Night - June 28]
I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Revelation 3:18
WHENEVER a new trial is presented to the Christian, if he will but call to mind this precept of the Lord, it will stimulate courage, nerve to patient endurance, and quicken to self-sacrifice. "Gold tried in the fire"! How can it be tried without the crucible and the flame? How otherwise can the dross be eliminated? There is no other way. Wherefore, "think it not strange"; let the fire burn; let the dross be consumed; and see to it, beloved, that in the heat of the flame you remove not the "living sacrifice" from the altar. Remember that the eye of the great Refiner is upon you; and as the refiner of gold watches the metal in the crucible to see his image reflected in it, so the Lord, the great Refiner, has his eye upon you. He is watching to see how the precious metal of your character reflects his image. Or, in plain language, in every trial he watches to see what influences control our actions, whether they be influences of present advantage or worldly policy, or personal friendship, or earthly loves—of husband or wife, or children, or houses, or lands, or whether they be honor among men, or love of ease, or love of peace at any cost; or whether, on the other hand, we are controlled by the naked principles of truth and righteousness; and whether we will defend these principles with zeal and energy at any cost of labor or suffering, or both, and so fight the good fight of faith to the bitter end—even unto death. Z'96-44 R1944:5 (Hymn 93)