My Refiner

In preparation for a day of Thanksgiving , "Writings on the Doorframe" is offering a series of short devotionals based on Psalm 139 with the purpose of preparing your heart for the original intention for the holiday's creation: 

To give thanks to a generous and loving God.

"Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting."
Psalm 139:23-24

Oh, that I have a God who serves as my heart and brain surgeon, able to know my motivations, burning out all the impurities that inspire me toward selfish ends.  He can also explore my thoughts and point out the feelings and beliefs that lead me in the direction of a state of panic and destruction.

He is the perfect centrifuge, able to separate the godly from the sinful, and showing me how to rid myself of that which is shown to please me while offending Him.  He illuminates the path He has marked out for me, making it possible to walk in His ways.

Since I have a God who is so completely able to search me, why do I avoid this invaluable, divine tool, instead choosing to stay in my comfortable, self-seeking ways?  Knowing the healing that can come from His gracious scalpel, why do I feign ignorance, choosing instead to live with the cancer of sin?  If I really understood His love, wouldn't I welcome His scrutiny instead of fearing it? (1 John 4:18)

I have a God whom I can trust with the delicate task of separating what pleases Him from that which is an affront.  As He sits as a refiner of silver, holding me to the fire yet never taking His eye from me, the good that comes from the process becomes clear.  (Malachi 3:3a) I need not fear my Father's gentle probing.

Today, as I enter into the day set aside to thank God for all His goodness, I resolve to keep this truth at the forefront of my mind:

God sits as my Refiner.