Testing of the heart

“He will sit as a refiner
and a purifier of silver.
He will purify the Levites
and refine them like gold and silver.
They will belong to the LORD,
presenting a righteous offering”.    Mal. 3:3 CEB

When God has thoroughly purged and purified His people, that which flows out of our heart in worship and adoration to Him, however the expression might be it is a holy offering to the Lord, that He might be glorified.

God made Jesus “to be a sin-offering” for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  Only He who “knew no sin” and therefore was totally righteous in Himself, could become an offering-----could pour out His life for us, impart it to us and transform us into His own sinless image. (II Cor. 5:21)

The ultimate state of being is------“Your people also shall be all righteous” (Isa. 60:21).   To this end therefore is the refining process.

“……. I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”  Zech. 13:9 NIV

He will refine us until from every cell of our being, we can cry out, “The Lord is my God” and it will be an offering in righteousness……. “in spirit and in truth”.

In order to bring forth a people who can say with a pure heart, “The Lord is my God,” it will necessitate that He purge out all of our allegiance to other gods.   It is amazing how many “other gods” we have served in the past, in spite of the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me”.

Because of Israel’s continuous idolatry, as punishment and discipline, they were sent into captivity and then the king of Assyria brought other people in and placed them in the cities formerly inhabited by Israel.

The result of this was; “So the people feared the Lord, but they worshiped their own gods also. They followed the way of the nations from which they had been taken away” (II Kings 17:33 NLV).  Their hearts had not been changed, so they only had an outward form of reverence for God, while in their heart and daily living they served other gods!

It is a unique thing that every time man gets into extreme pressure or some drastic trouble, he will call on the Lord, give some reverence to God, and yet all the while retain a servitude to all of his own gods.    Man’s will is often his god!

“The bellows fiercely fan the flames
to burn out the corruption.
But it does not purify them, for the wickedness remains.
 I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’
for I, the Lord, am discarding them.”  Jer. 6:29-30 NLT

The Lord tries the heart----this is something that only God can do, and He has some very unique ways and workings to make practical applications.  We talk of fiery trials, the furnace of affliction, till it almost becomes a mystical thing; but here we are faced with a very literal experience. 

“So is a man to his praise”.   How do we act when praise is directed our way?  If we retain it for self to glory in, it will become dross.   But if we immediately, in heart and mind offer that praise to the Lord----knowing that it is Christ within us that enables us to live and do, then “no flesh has glory in His presence,” and our hearts remain pure before Him.

But there is another side to this “so is a man to his praise,” and that is when there is NO praise directed our way---that is a refining process also.   The lack of a compliment can be as trying as knowing how to receive one, for if we allow self-pity, bitter thoughts, etc. to fill our mind because we were not praised---that certainly indicates the dross of self within. 

How we react to praise, or the lack of praise, reveals the character in us, for both ways serve as a refining fire.

“Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,
but the Lord tests the heart”.  Prov. 17:3  NLT