10 “For you, God , tested us; you refined us like silver.”
18 “If I had cherished sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened;”
In Bible times, refining silver was the process of melting raw metal from the earth and waiting until the pure silver rose to the top and collected. In modern times, we use chemicals to attract the impurities within the raw metal so pure silver can be separated. Pure silver is then made into many fine products that we use every day. The pure silver is very noticeable and beautiful to look at. The raw ore you mine for looks quite different; it looks like just another rock. Not only do you have to know what you are looking for, but you also have to know what silver ore looks like in raw form.
In Psalm 66, the writer makes the comparison that we are raw silver ore to God, and He is putting us through the refiner’s fire, so to speak. We are all made in the image of God, so we all have some shine to our nature, but the Bible says we have all fallen short of the glory of God and are in need of a Savior, kind of like raw silver ore.
Raw silver ore has silver all throughout the rock, but also many other elements that are not precious and need to be separated out. Our hearts, before Jesus, cherished sin. When we give our lives over to Jesus, the Lord begins to clean up our lives and separate us from the sin in our hearts. This process may take some time, or it may be fast depending on how submitted we are to Christ. This process is God-ordained and God-driven.
Silver ore is happy as a rock you can hold, and it is solid, but it needs to be melted and separated from the impurities before it becomes precious. Then it is cooled and fashioned into wonderful things. Sin in your life is happy until Jesus comes along and begins to melt you and strip away the love of sin in your life until, as Paul says, we live by the Spirit.
Getting cleaned up in life is no fun journey. You must keep your eyes on what God sees and the promises He says about you in His Word. Today, get a Bible promises book and read the wonderful things the Lord sees in you when you give your life over to Him. If sin in your life is getting uncomfortable, then the Lord is heating you up and stripping sin away from your heart. You may not be able to see the precious you that God sees at the moment, but you can be sure that the heat He is putting in your life is directed to separate you from the impurities of sin.
Prayer: Father, help us to read, remember, and repeat out loud what Your Word says about us every day. I pray that we do this so often we cannot even remember what life was like without You, Father. I pray that we understand and live as if we are precious as silver to You, Lord, and that You love us more than we know. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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