It makes things malleable and mouldable for reshaping. It purges and purifies. And when Scripture compares the trying of our faith to gold being tried by fire, all of these characteristics of fire become relevant.

Peter says:

In this precious process, things get consumed, but things are also revealed for what they are.

We often speak about fire in the sense of excitement, power and demonstration, but Paul speaks about another characteristic of fire:

The immediate context is different, but the characteristic of fire is the same:

I have been offended by this process many times.

Until I sat with myself and realised that the fiery trial was not just burning things out of my life. Yes, it was dealing with misconceptions, attitudes, behaviours and ideas, but it was also revealing me to me.

It revealed that my faith was not always where I thought it was.

It revealed that my understanding of Scripture was not always as fully rounded and multidimensional as I thought it was.

The Word was lighting my path and showing me the direction I needed to go, but as a lamp unto my feet, it was also showing me where I stood:

Where I stood with God.

Where I stood in life.

Where I stood in relation to the world I was living in.

I was astounded one day when I realised:

How could I be offended by His Word?

I love His Word. I study His Word. I wholeheartedly believe His Word.

But my responses to the fiery trial were not bearing the fruit of the love and confidence in the Word that I thought I had.

Then I read the parable of the sower:

Sometimes the problem is not that we rejected the Word.

We received it with joy.

But then life puts pressure on what we received.

If we understand the Word and allow it to take root, we will realise that tribulation and persecution can arise because of the Word.

If we profess Christ as our Lord and Saviour, that profession will be tried and tested in many ways.

The promises in the Word that we claim will test us.

The life we live according to the Word will potentially cause friction with family, friends and associates.

Even the prophetic word concerning our lives can try us while we wait for its fulfilment.

Look at Joseph:

There was a distance between what had been shown and what he was presently experiencing.

And I began to realise that many of the words I had believed, prayed, preached and prophesied about were connected to the very places where I was becoming frustrated and offended.

Like Asaph in Psalm 73, I needed to get into God's presence before I could see properly.

The fiery trial was not merely consuming things. It was revealing things.

It was making me malleable. It was refining me. It was reshaping me. It was preparing me to react and respond differently to what life would throw at me.

And I was in good company.

Look at John the Baptist. John knew who Jesus was. Yet John eventually found himself sitting in prison, hearing about the works of Christ while his own circumstances remained unchanged.

His circumstances put pressure on what he knew.

And look at how Jesus answered him:

Jesus didn't get mad with John.

He reminded John of who He was.

Or, as the kids today would say:

John, your prison has not changed who I am.

Your circumstances have not changed who I am.

What you do not presently understand has not changed who I am.

And somebody needs to remember that.

It's OK to be upset. It's OK to be confused.

Fear might have crept in. Doubt may have crept in.

The fire might even have revealed that your faith was not quite where you thought it was.

But He's still Him.

He's still the One who brought you out the last time.

He's still the One who healed.

He's still the One who delivered.

He's still the One who promoted, favoured, lifted, gifted and blessed.

So don't despise what the fire is revealing.

The fire may reveal you to yourself, but what it reveals does not have to remain as it is. The same process that exposes is also refining, reshaping and preparing you.

Be encouraged.

When the process has done its work, may your faith: