Ineffective Refining

Jeremiah 6:27-30
²⁷ "I have made you a tester of metals
and my people the ore,
that you may observe
and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,
going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
they all act corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
the wicked are not purged out.
³⁰ They are called rejected silver,
because the LORD has rejected them." (NIV)

This is a cool metaphor. When a blacksmith refines the ore, he heats it up until all the impurities in the metal burn away or float to the top. He then skims the impurities, called slag, off the top and throws it away. Now he has relatively pure metal to work with.

Spiritually God does the same thing, he allows troubles (the heat) to come into our lives to refine us of our sin (aka slag). God is trying to make us pure metal, the more we hold onto sin the hotter the fire has to be to separate the slag from the metal. If we keep sinning, God will allow us to face troubles that we might not have had if we had listened to Him.

The Israelites were being refined by God, they had trouble after trouble beset them, nations invading left and right, plagues, droughts, etc. and yet they still rejected God, they still held onto their slag. Therefore God said, "Forget it, this metal is unworkable" and threw the Israelites out.

I admit that there are a few chunks of slag that I am refusing to let float to the top, I wouldn't be human if I didn't hold onto a few chunks. But overall, I am trying to let God refine me into the pure metal that he can work with. We will be more effective if we are a tool made out of pure metal than a tool that will crack because of the impurities. Banging a nail with a steel hammer is much more effective than banging the same nail with a lump of iron ore. God can use anyone, he will use us, whether we are a steel hammer or a lump of ore. But God can use us much more effectively when we are a tool made out of pure metal, fitted to His hand, able to hit the nail squarely on the head.