Refined

I was listening to a sermon online tonight, by Dr. Mark Rutland, and he was talking about the story where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  It was a test of faith.  So I wrote this poem.  I'm thinking about the deep trials of life.  So often I see how the stories in the Bible are so relevant to my walk with the Lord, even though they were written thousands of years ago.  Abraham was a man of covenant, a friend of God, who waited years for the fulfillment of God's promise.  Jacob wrestled with God and didn't let go until God blessed Him.  He was a man of covenant and blessing.  Joseph was imprisoned, yet through it all the Lord was with him, and God's promise was ultimately fulfilled in his life.  The Israelites experienced years of cruel bondage, yet God redeemed them with might acts of  judgment on their enemies and brought them into the promised land.  The Psalms express a longing for God, crying out to God for help in time of trouble.  Elijah, though a powerful prophet of God, prays that he might die.  These stories relate to our lives because, in our walk of faith, we have similar experiences or emotions.   

Through it all God refines us deeply, perfects our character, and reveals who He is to us.  He reveals His glory in our lives and we emerge purified and refined.  And, I believe, through it all God reveals greater depths of His covenant with us.


I've listed many of the Scriptures that are used in the poem at the end.

Refined

a faith refined and perfected

such depth of suffering

in anguish of soul I cried out to You

You answered by setting me free

in my prison of shame and confusion

a dungeon of longing, yearning, aching, and questioning

my neck in irons and feet in shackles

the word of God has been proved true

all You said is coming to pass

in the dawning of morning

the new sun arises

I’m emerging from this struggle with a limp

amidst thick and dreadful darkness

Your covenant is established

deep in my heart, Your hand upon my thigh

deep calls unto deep, in the deepest place of me

here in my bondage

years of cruelty and discouragement

Your promise rises in my heart

and I sing the song of salvation

and dance the dance of the redeemed

through fire and water

You have brought me through

when the waves did surround me

and my feet could not reach the ground

You stretched out Your hand and caught me

and drew me to Yourself

O, my God, I will praise You

You are my song in the night

in the wilderness of my weariness

I prayed that I might die

when I was broken and downtrodden

You lifted me up on high

You have tested me, refined me in the fire

laid burdens on my back

yet, You have brought me into a land of great abundance

fulfill the longings of my heart

my souls cries to You, O God

I long to meet with You

to be with You and to know You

to encounter You in the watches of the night

where can I go and meet with God?

when I awake, I pray, to be found in You

to arise to Your likeness

You have tested me severely

chastened me in the furnace of affliction

now, I pray, take my hand, O Lord

and satisfy the longings of my heart

fill me with the fullness of Your Spirit

fulfill all Your good purposes for me

in the glory of Your unending love

“In my anguish I cried to the Lord,

and he answered by setting me free.”

Psalm 118:5

“…he sent a man before them—

Joseph, sold as a slave.

They bruised his feet with shackles, 

his neck was put in irons,

till what he foretold came to pass,

till the word of the Lord proved him true.”

Psalm 105:17-19

“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.  Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’

But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’”

Genesis 32:24-26

“As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him…

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said…”

Genesis 15:12, 17-18

“So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.”

Genesis 24:9

“Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.”

Exodus 6:9

“When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.”

Exodus 15:19-20

“I was pushed back and about to fall,

but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.”

Psalm 118:13-14

“For you, O God, tested us;

you refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison

and laid burdens on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water,

but you brought us to a place of abundance.”

Psalm 66:10-12

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”

Matthew 14:31

“He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’”

I Kings 19:4

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?”

Psalm 42:2

“And I—in righteousness I will see your face;

when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.”

Psalm 17:15

“The Lord has chastened me severely,

but he has not given me over to death.”

Psalm 118:18

“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

your love, O Lord, endures forever —

do not abandon the works of your hands.”

Psalm 138:8