Tempering or Tampering?

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   “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11 English Standard Version).

   “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 English Standard Version).

   If you did a poll of Christians, the above two verses might rank up there in the top 10 of most unpopular...if we were really being honest. How can we celebrate the whole counsel of the Word of God when some of it, frankly, is more challenging that we would like it to be, seemingly impossible to embrace with a joyful heart.

   The answer, friends, is “perspective.” We must change our perspective. And, when times come that we are not willing to change our perspective, God, in His mercy, will often change it for us.

   When my daughter was young, she had many many health issues. I cried out daily for God to heal her and take away not only her pain, but also the pain I felt as a mother, helpless to protect and provide the very things my daughter needed most. Eventually I would realize that God was not taking the trial away from us; and so, the choice that remained before me was would I walk it alone, or would I take the hand of God and walk with Him through it?  It was not hard for me, or anyone, to see that this was not a trial that was going to be fixed by human hands. And so I resigned myself to the fact that I needed the Lord... even if He wasn’t handling the matter in what I viewed as the most efficient way with the most effective outcome. But I was about to learn that God’s ways and God’s desired outcomes are often different than our own. My perspective was about to shift.

   It may not be that God wants to take away your trial, but rather wants you to praise Him through His God-ordained duration of it... trusting that it will last as long as He has planned and accomplish exactly what He desires through it.

   It didn’t happen immediately, but gradually the loving- kindness of the Lord won me over. Instead of a reluctant begrudging child accompanying her Heavenly Father through the murky road of a miserable trial, I was becoming a dependent child, grateful for the only One who could possibly “fix” my problems. And on the days when problems clearly remained and reared their ugly heads, He took my hand and placed extra grace in it, grace to overcome — the grace to overcome self pity, the grace to overcome hopelessness, the grace to overcome sleeplessness, the grace to overcome the pessimism of the medical doctors, and the grace to pray with faith for a future work that no one but God could accomplish.

   I walked for over 9 years in the fiery furnace of affliction. But I can tell you that the Lord walked every step with me – even when I was begrudging and ungrateful. He was constant, He was kind, and He was working – in His way, in His time, and for His desired outcome.

   I began to look back at the start of these fierce years and see that when I thought the Lord was tampering with my life, cruelly interfering with my own ideas of perfection – He was really tempering me – allowing me to walk through the fiery furnace to create an object for His use that was stronger and more useful.

   The definition of tempering: Tempering is the process of treating metals through heating in order to enhance toughness. This is primarily applicable in alloys that are iron based. It is typically performed post-hardening to reduce extra hardness, which can be accomplished by subjecting metal to a temperature under the critical temperature within a particular time period.

   God was allowing heat to be applied to my life, in the form of a health trial; in order to make me tougher and stronger. He had to allow the process to run its full course of time because decreasing the hardness of my heart was one of His primary aims. God’s ways seemed like “tampering” at the time to me. Indeed, no discipline seems pleasant at the time. But in time I would undeniably see that He was actually “tempering” me. God was making me stronger in the furnace of affliction.

   Are there fiery trials in your life that make you want to shake your fist at God?  Is it possible for you to change your perspective on them?  God, the Lord Almighty, is not tampering with you; but rather is tempering you to be a useful vessel. All His work brings improvement and is motivated by his loving-kindness to not leave us as we are.

   If we will let Him have His way with us,  God will use trials as the molding hands of change on our lives to strengthen us and transform us to stronger, more compassionate, more useful children of the King.

   Take His hand today, friend.  God is not tampering with your dream of a perfect life...He is TEMPERING you through the life He has ordained.  And He is with you every step of the way.

Chris McMahan
Email:  Happy1970@icloud.com

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