Remember the
reality television show "Gold Rush?" The show
followed three quite different but somewhat loveable
"families" of miners as they ruthlessly pillaged the beautiful
Alaskan countryside in search of gold. Turning beautiful forested valleys into
jagged and scarred gravel pits, these adventurers sifted mountains of material
in search of the tiniest grains of gold.
All over
Alaska there are similar stories of individuals, and large companies converting
mountains of dirt and rock into small jars of gold. The effort is truly on a
monumental scale. The EPA reports that the ratio of overburden (the dirt they
don't want), to the gravel that may contain
gold can be as high as 10:1.
At the largest placer gold mine in North America, Cambior,
Inc.'s Valdez Creek Mine near Cantwell, Alaska, approximately 34,000 cubic
yards of material were extracted daily. Of this, 3,000 cubic
yards pass through the wash plant when it is operating, leaving
approximately 90 percent of the material moved as waste.[i]
Now consider
for a moment the remaining three thousand cubic yards of “ore” that is
processed in the wash plant. Depending on its composition, three thousand cubic
yards of ore/gravel can weigh from three thousand to forty-five hundred tons!
The pay out—in gold—from this enterprise is measured in mere ounces! Converting thousands
of tons to tens of ounces is quite a steep drop off.
Feelings
about the possible abuse of pristine lands aside, this is a real-life lesson: great
things are often refined from piles and piles of not-so-great things. Great
works of art may begin as a huge block of unflinching marble. Great books
emerge from thousands of discarded pages. Thin dissertations are the result of the
prodigious combing of hundreds of source materials.
It should
come as no surprise, then, that spiritual growth travels along similar paths.
LeRoy Eims has asserted that “God allows a ton of difficulty to come into our
lives to teach us one ounce of wisdom.”[ii]
That may
seem like a poor exchange (for us), but like gold mining, the value of the
final product more than pays for the trouble—because (in our case) it is God’s
wisdom we are receiving; worth far more than any amount of precious metal! (Psalm 19:10; 119:27, 72; Proverbs 3:14; 8:19;
16: 6)
So in life
as in mining there is a sifting process to eliminate that which is not useful.
Scripture tells that in life (as in mining) there is also a refining process. The
recovered gold flakes and dust have to be smelted and refined; gold has a
specific melting point (temperature) and it is typically heated with a specific
flux that removes its impurities. The caveat is that the gold has to stay in
the furnace until it melts, anything less and refining does not occur (at all).
Behold, I have refined you, but
not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own
sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My
glory I will not give to another. Isaiah 48:10-11, ESV
In this you rejoice, though now for a
little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so
that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that
perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7, ESV
As humans
and especially independent American humans, the thought of being shaken, sifted,
washed, and then placed in the furnace is anathema! It is the very opposite of
comfort. It is the very antithesis of “feeling good about ourselves.” And yet,
God lovingly shakes, sifts, washes, and heats us up all the time. You may be
feeling the heat even as you read this! Rest assured, our trouble is worth it—He
is refining the gold of Christ-like character in us! In fact, it is some kind
of heavenly alchemy where God takes that which has no worth and makes us into
His sons and daughters. PTL!
“My son, do not regard
lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the
Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to
endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father
does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all
have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not
sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we
respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of
spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it
seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share
his holiness.
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 12:5-11 ESV
“It is for discipline that you have to endure
. . .” God asks us to cooperate with His discipline, even embrace it so that we
might “share His holiness” and reflect the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” to
a world that desperately needs our Savior.
So “do not regard lightly the discipline of the
Lord . . ." Do not consider difficult times to be an unfruitful or an unnecessary waste of time. Do
not try to escape the furnace until God has accomplished His purposes in you.
He is, after all, God, and He knows what He is doing. God—more so than you and
I—knows what He is creating and what it takes to get there.
And from
personal experience, let me lend another lesson (in process): Trust is
paramount, but at some point blind and resigned trust should be supplanted by
confident, expectant, understanding and grateful trust! The grand designer is
at work! And (even more amazingly) He is choosing to do His great work in me
and you!
So we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides
in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected
with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as
he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect
love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has
not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:16-18 ESV
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, ESV
In memory of Steve Bekkedahl who ably demonstrated how to
embrace adversity and glorify God. His words and example continue to challenge,
amaze and guide. Happy birthday big brother.
[i] Environmental Protection Agency, “Technical Resource
Document: Extraction and Beneficiation Of Ores and Minerals, Volume 6, Gold
Placers” (1.4.2 Extraction Methods, 1-12) [Internet] http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/mining/techdocs/placer/placer1.pdf
[ii] LeRoy Eims, Daily
Discipleship; A Devotional (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1998)
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