Proverbs 25:4
“Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.”
Several years ago I had the privilege of going to a refinery to see the smelting process for gold. The process was very interesting to someone who had never seen how they refined gold. They took a bucket of what looked like dirt and put it on a sifter, and what remained after they shook it was the larger chunks of what looked like little rocks. They then took what remained and put it in a furnace that had extreme heat. The heat revealed the real gold. You could see the gold and the dross separate from each other so that when it came out of the fire the gold was collected to be sold and the dross was thrown away.
This is what the verse above is teaching. God says that the dross is going to have to be taken away from their lives if they are going to become that fine vessel for God to use. Dross devalues the worth, weakens the strength and limits the potential. It is oftentimes not seen by the naked eye. It can blend in with the silver so as to look authentic. There is only one way to remove the dross, and that is through the refiner’s fire. God can use you in your present state, but He will have to remove the dross from your life if you are going to become a fine vessel in His hands. That dross in your life will only be removed by the refiner’s fire.
When you look at history, you will always see that those who were used greatly by God had to go through the refiner’s fire before He used them. Many people have gone through the fire, but while going through the fire they clung to the dross in their lives only to have to go back into the fire.
Friend, the purpose of the fiery trials in your life is so that the dross can be removed. The dross in your life could be the besetting sin that is holding you back from God being able to use you in a great way. The dross could be something that in and of itself is not bad, but it is holding you back from God using you in a greater way. The dross could be a character flaw that you need to correct before God can make you into a fine vessel. These are the things that need to be removed while you go through the fire.
I was talking to a fine Christian man whose wife was very ill. He told me that when she first got sick he asked himself if there was something in his life that God was trying to correct. This is the right attitude to have. So many times in my life I have seen trials reveal something in me that I didn't know was there. It was something that when I saw it I didn't like and I knew it was keeping God from using me in a greater way. Just like this Christian man immediately looked at what he needed to correct when his wife got sick, so you too need to look at yourself when experiencing trials and heartache to see if there is some dross that must be removed.
God is not a respecter of persons. You can become a fine vessel in the hand of God, but before you will ever become that fine vessel you will have to go through the fire to have the dross removed. What you do with your fire will determine how much God can use you. The degree of God using you is truly dependent upon what you do with the dross in your life. The more dross you take away, the finer vessel you will become in the hand of God. Before asking God to remove the dross remember that it can only be removed by the refiner’s fire, but fire is definitely worth it when you become a fine vessel in God’s hand.