THE FIRE OF GOD

May God's peace continue to strengthen our hearts in these times in which we must cling to the joy that comes from knowing his benevolence and love for us, knowing that God is the same yesterday, today and forever and since he does not change we must know that even though the circumstances are adverse his love is forever.

But when we are in the middle of the fire and we feel the burning and the glow of tribulations is when we really need trust and faith because it is there where God cleanses us with his fire, yes, his purifying fire and that is what I want to write about today. It is the reason why God allows sufferings to come into our lives, things that we do not like but God allows them. Let's dig into the scriptures so we can understand where and why that fire (suffering) comes into our lives even when it seems that we have done everything right and God should be pleased with us, we expect a reward and suddenly the sun goes down and the storm comes.
So we will base our study today on the following passage:

Zechariah 13
8 And it shall come to pass in all the land, saith the LORD, that two thirds shall be cut off in it, and perish; but the third shall remain in it.

9 And I will cast the third part into the fire, and will melt them as silver is melted, and will try them as gold is tried. And he shall call upon my name, and I will hear him, and will say, My people; and he shall say, The LORD is my God.

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Well, it seems that human beings not only forgot about God but also provoked his anger. Recently I was talking with my wife about how happy the world would be if everyone chose to work and live from their work without harming anyone, it would be so simple that only a piece of land, water and the blessing of God would be enough to be happy even living only from the fruit of the earth, but humans have corrupted even the earth itself, it is not enough to live in harmony, the human being is full of greed and ambitions; greed to have so many riches, even more than they could spend in a lifetime and still not enough, ambition for power and domination over others. The consequences can be felt, the nature of that which God once created perfect is now turned to do evil, envy, selfishness, hypocrisy and so many evils that you can see just by looking out the window, then God is saying through his prophecy that 66.66% of the population will be destroyed and the other 33.3333% will be saved, from here we will assume that fortunately you and I are part of that 33.333%, do we agree?
I guess yes because we don't want to be on the side of those who are going to be lost, so let's see what the scripture says about us (those of us who are in that 33.33% that God is going to save)

A painful purification process

One can think that if we are God's chosen ones now we can run to his arms and everything is wonderful, no more pain, no more suffering, from here on everything will be nice but I don't know where we get those ideas because my bible says the opposite, the first thing God says he will do with us will be to put us in fire, this is just the beginning, this fire represents those problems that hurt so much, that which we don't like and makes us suffer is the beginning of this fire because later it says that he will melt us as silver is melted, note that it is not a destructive fire but a transforming fire but even so the process is painful, if we are the silver he does not raise the temperature so much as to destroy us but to melt us, and by melt it is understood that things lose the form they have and being the melted material is apt to give it a new form. For God wants to undo what we are, those ambitious and selfish beings that we have become, those immoral habits that provoke the wrath of God by fire must be consumed in us (when I say fire I mean the tribulations that come upon our lives), we must learn to put our trust in God, to get rid of envy, greed, of those plans that we have made without taking God into account and that we think we can achieve without Him.

Then when you think you have suffered, when you have been melted and the pain has given you a new form, God says that He will test us as gold is tested, that is, more fire. The first fire has the purpose of removing the impurities in you and give you a form pleasing to God, the second fire is to test the firmness of that new being that has been created. And you will ask, is so much fire necessary? I will tell you that yes, being us so bad God has plans to put us to live in his house, you would not put to live in your house a person full of bad habits and evil, would you? Well, God has promised a lot of things for us but before delivering them he must make us fit to receive them. God's word is full of quotes that refer to the afflictions we must suffer and the reward we will receive afterwards.

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Thank you for reading me once again. May God continue to bless us!

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