But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, Let Him who boasts, boast in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:30, 31 

 

In that dark and lonely place called the Crucible there is intense pain and pressure.  The loneliness and darkness of that place is excruciatingly unbearable.  There are times in the Crucible that death seems better than life – at least then the pain is gone.  In that place of torture there is nothing to do but to wonder if you will survive and what you will be like when you emerge from the Crucible.  It is easy in that place to blame others for being there.  It is easy to lash out in pain at the ones you love and care for most.  It is easy to completely miss the point of the Crucible.

  

Allow me to let you in on a little secret.  If you are in the Crucible, God has put you in the Crucible.  Let me say that again for you to grasp this one truth.  If you are in the Crucible today it is because God has placed you there.  He has a reason and a plan for your current situation.  He knows every bit of truth that surrounds the exhausting pain in which you currently find yourself.  If you will allow me another opportunity to discuss this theme, thank you.

 

First and foremost for those of you in the Crucible (or even those who are about to enter), do not wallow in self pity.  Do not wander around in the Crucible moaning and groaning about how bad it hurts or how people have hurt you.  You are in the Crucible for a reason which only God knows.  You will not see the wisdom of God’s plan until He is through forging you into what He wants you to be.  Every feeling, every pain, every thought of giving up must be quickly brought to the God who placed you into the Crucible.  The sooner you recognize that God is doing this for your good and His glory, the better you will learn the lessons He is going to teach you.

 

Second, trust God completely.  The pain of your heart will be intense.  You will come to the conclusion that you cannot bear anymore pain and anguish.  You will lay down at night and wish to wake in the presence of God.  Don’t.  Don’t diminish the glory of God by skipping out of class.  Don’t mock His wisdom by trying to do things your way.  You can resist and fight against the pressure and heat of the Crucible.  In the end, you will lose.  Trust that God will not let you die.  Trust that God intends something much better for you.  Trust His wisdom and not yours.  Remember, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalm 20:7, NIV).  God is completely, 100% trustworthy.  Never, ever forget that!

 

Third, know that God loves you beyond your wildest imagination.  If God did not love you, He would not waste the time or the energy of the Crucible on you.  He would simply let you go about your merry way, doing your own thing, and finally reaping your own lack of reward.  If you examine the account of Job in the Old Testament, one of the truths that you will discover is that God allowed Satan to torment Job as he did because God was proud of Job.  God knew Job better than Job knew himself.  And God loved Job beyond imagination.  Why, if God loves us does He allow us to go through the pain of the Crucible?  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NIV)  “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25, NASB)  Whether it is the Cross for salvation or the Crucible for sanctification, God knows best how to accomplish His plan and will for your life.  He is never, at any time, out of touch; nor is anything, at any time, out of His control.  He loves you enough to put you in the Crucible, brother or sister.  He also loves you enough to bring you through and to heal the hurts.  Trust in God’s great love for you.

 

Finally, understand that God desires to use you in a significant way.  Again, if God did have plans for your life, He would not put you through His Crucible.  As God brings the dross of your life to the surface, as He cracks the façade of who you are He begins to reveal the person who He desires most – the real you.  All too often we wrap ourselves in the external and place a mask on our faces for the public to see – all the while, hiding the true you deep inside your fortress.  As God shapes you into the person who He sees and values He leaves no opportunity to boast in yourself.  He takes all the glory for what He does.  You will not understand what God is doing to you and in you; but it is vitally important that you cling to Him and no one else.  God is the one who will bring you through the pain of the Crucible because He is the one who placed you into the Crucible.  He does have a plan for your life.  Trust me, I know.

 

If you are in the Crucible, I know where you are at.  For me, the Crucible was excruciating.  It was a time when I felt the most abandoned, the most lonely, the most like a failure.  The pain was unbearable.  It was exhausting, mainly because I fought with God at every turn.  It was not until I surrendered to His purpose of having me in the Crucible did I begin to understand two very important lessons.  One, God was with me every step of the way.  There was not one moment that God had abandoned me in this dark period of my life.  Two, God loves me beyond my imagination.  He loves me and has a plan for my life.  Never give up, if you are in the Crucible.  Never!  Never, ever forget that God is with you – sometimes carrying you, sometimes walking with you hand-in-hand.

 

The pain of the Crucible will one day go away.  The darkness and the loneliness will soon fade.  But, if you allow God to work as He desires, the lessons He teaches you in the Crucible will remain with you forever.  And in the end, we will boast in the Lord God for what He has accomplished in us.

 

mrc