Have you ever wondered about this verse?

Question

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.



The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.



The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy, when I see my image in it."



If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.

And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end.

"Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it

once. Only once.

Answer 1

Beautiful, but it will probably go right over certain heads, unfortunately...

Answer 2

Nice story.

Shame that it is not true:

http://www.silversmithing.com/1silverprocessing.htm

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupellation


So, the silver is placed into a vessel or cup, not held over a flame.

The silver is melted and is kept there until the impurities oxidise off. You can not hold it there too long. The worst that could happen is that you might boil of a little of the silver, it will not get 'ruined'.

Liquid silver probably is nice and shiny. However unless the silversmith is directly over the pool of liquid silver in he cup he will not see his reflection. Directly over the cup means directly over a flame at greater than 1800 F. I do not think so.


Now. I know this because I just did about 10 minutes research.

Why could you not do the same before passing this fiction off as truth.

Answer 3

Excellent Sharing.. thank You!
Its amazing to me how much damage has been done to us because of the fall of adam.. Our body became the flesh. our soul became the self and contaminated and our spirit deadened,

Its no wonder that through the heat of trials and tribulations that God in His soverignity works out all the impurities out of our being

I am encouraged by that verse in 2 Corinthians 3-18
But we with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror, the GLory of God are being transformed into the same Image. from Glory to Glory even as from the Lord Who is the Spirit."

I've heard it said that the " pressure makes us precious"
All the precious materials on this earth did not get to be this way without pressure of some kind.. be it fire.. or irritation ( pearls in the oyster)... pressure for certain precious stones..
We are in the process as believers of being transformed from Living Stones into Precious Stones as seen in the New Jerusalem.

So may we be encouraged that the Lord is in the heat with us.. like He was there with the Shadrack Meshack. and Abednigo. Sometimes its only when the heat is turned up seven times hotter that there is the real manifestation of the Son Of God in our midst"
Praise the Lord for His presence as He sits and hovers over us as we are worked on in love by Him.

One line in a song by watchman nee
" Each blow i suffer.. is true Gain to me.... In the Place of what Thou takest.. Thou dost give Thyself to me"

Grace and peace to you

Answer 4

That's a bunch of childish drivel.
Silver isn't "held in a flame" until the "impuritires burn away".
Jesus christ! That sounds like TBN crap for kiddies.

There are a number of ways to "purify silver" depending on its natural impurities.

The most common way is just plain SMELTING.
You take a large mass of natural silver and you MELT it.
Impurities rise to the surface of the melt. These impurities (called "slag") are either skimmed off or the molten silver is "decanted" into a mold which, after cooling, is called an "ingot".

"Holds it in a flame until he can see his reflection". - Childish TRIPE!

.

Answer 5

I was once was in the fire 19 years ago. God knew how hot to make the fire and how long I needed to be in it. But at the time, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Afterwards, I was never the same and I knew that God was with me.

Answer 6

Im christian and i personally believe that this verse is refering to us as the silver..

in this world we are tarnished by temptation, and sin itself
Since He is the way the truth and the light, any darkness that comes into his presence will disappear
hope this helped:)

Answer 7

To me, it's like a testing of our character. Just enough to refine us but not melt us into a lump of molten metal. Gotta keep the faith!

Answer 8

Spurgeon said he learned more from God's file and the hammer and this would match that well. God will test us in order to help remove the sin from our lives and make us better... even though we don't like it. Kind of like really yucky medicine I guess.

Answer 9

Nice metaphor. Now if only followers of christ will heed 1 corinthians 1:10, things would be nicer still. But they won't take heed.

Answer 10

The thing that many theists seem to miss is that these cute stories could be used by any theist, for any god or gods.

"The woman thought about the Flying Spaghetti Monster holding us in such a hot spot."

It's all meaningless drivel.