Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
There’s a lot of good advice in Proverbs 17, and I wish I can take time in all of them, but I can’t. I must move on to something. This verse seemed to stand out to me, so here it is:
A specific purpose for a specific machine
The fining pot and the furnace were tools used by artisans of the day that dealt with precious metals such as silver and gold. Silver and gold never came pure and perfect. It had to be refined. The purpose of these instruments was to purify the metals; to take all the foreign objects out of the precious metal in order to make it 100% precious. These were tools of the trade. These tools got the job done. They were successful and useful.
So is the Lord. The text says that he trieth the hearts. This is the same purpose as the fining pot and the furnace. (Psalm 139:23-24) Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I like the last part of these verses. God is going to search; he’s going to know; he’s going to try; he’s going to see. But what I like is that he’s also going to lead. He’s going to do something about what he’s found. Trying is not just examination, but also extraction.
We are tried for the purpose of purification. (Jude 24) Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, Now unto him? Praise the purifying and perfecting furnace of the heart. (Hebrews 12:29) For our God is a consuming fire. I hope this doesn’t sound irreverent, but God in this verse is likened to a machine or a tool. What is the purpose of the machine? What does it do? God refines and purifies. That is what he does. You can’t get close to God without experiencing his purifying power. That is just what God does.
A specific process for a specific material
Notice in the text also that the fining pot is used specifically for silver. And the furnace is specifically used for gold. This brings to mind the differences in every saint of God. Different metals require different processes to refine them. Some metals are dirtier than others. However some metals, though they may have little impurities, they’re very difficult to purify. So a specific process must be used to deal with specific situations.
The other day, my wife had informed me that I didn’t know how to prepare her coffee. And I thought it to be a challenge. I thought that would be a simple easy way to show her that I care; to fix her coffee. How hard can that be? I mean it’s just half and half and stevia. Maybe just a few other things. Surely I can memorize that. So a few days later, it was a nice peaceful morning. There was no rush. She had my undivided attention. So I popped the question. “How do you prepare your coffee?” And she said, “Well… That depends…”
Sometimes, there’s just no one-size-fits-all recipe for what is needed. (Jeremiah 17:10) I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. God can deal accordingly to any situation. I don’t have a whole lot of patience when it comes to diversity. When we go to Dairy Queen with 7 kids, everybody is getting the Blizzard of the Month! But God can handle differences. God deals with the 7 year olds and the 70 year olds. He deals with people hooked on drugs and people hooked on religion. He deals with mass murderers and traffic violators. God can speak specifically to the heart of all men, women, and children in whatever condition he may find them.
A specific problem for a sinful man
This verse tells us one thing that plagues and contaminates all men – the heart. (Jeremiah 17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Man has got a problem. We may think that it’s our hands, our eyes, and our feet that are getting us into trouble. Jesus said you can cut those off and still get into heaven. (Matthew 18:8,9) Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.9And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. The real problem is the heart.
Contaminated silver and gold by necessity require the use of the fining pot and the furnace. Their condition demands the involvement of these purifiers. Likewise, the heart, corrupt and impure, needs God and cries out to God. (Proverbs 15:11) Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? Perhaps what I’m saying is that you don’t need to make an appointment. You don’t have to worry if he’s taking new patients. You don’t need a referral. You don’t have to convince him that you need his services. He even makes house calls. Why? Because he knows and cares about your heart.
I guess sometimes in our preaching we might signify to a certain degree that in this matter that (James 4:2) Ye have not, because ye ask not. That in order to receive an examination, we must needs pray (Psalm 26:2) Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. The reality of a deceitful heart is that it has deceived you. You may not pursue examination if you don’t know you need one. (Mark 2:17) They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But that doesn’t mean that God is not at work. As I was trying to explain earlier, God can deal with that. You may not know, but the master heartsmith knows and cares about your heart.
Concluding Remarks
Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
Lastly, I was looking at this verse. (1 Thessalonians 2:4) But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. There are just a few things I thought.
First, there is a reason we were allowed and put in trust. That reason is that God has done his work on the heart. Now I know I’m on dangerous ground here; but the condition of the heart now after God has begun his work is such that can be trusted with the gospel. Now understand that we’re deemed worthy (allowed and trusted) not because of our works, but because of the refining and purifying work that God has done in our hearts. After David said wash me, cleanse me, purge me, make me, and (Psalm 51:10) Create in me a clean heart… Once God did the work, he could say (Psalm 51:13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Secondly, there is also an expectation of that allowance and trust. He said as we were… even so. And this demonstrates to us that the purifying work of God never ends in this life and demands that our conversation be not as to contaminate that which God has cleansed. And by conversation, I mean all manner of behavior. (Titus 2:11-12) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; The other day, I heard a preacher say this in so many words: When you are first saved, you are as near a sinner on his way to hell as you’ll ever be. You’re saved but you know nothing of the things of God. But now begins the work of sanctification. And are we so foolish as to think that while God works tirelessly with us trying to get things out of our life that are hindering us and hurting us, other things might not slip in while that work is going on?
The grace of God is teaching us, not has taught us. I’ve heard alot of people and preachers say, Once you pass a test, you won’t have to take it again. Really? Says who? I’m not so sure about that. You might have to take it again. It might be a little easier. It might not be. You may be in a condition now that it’s harder than before. You may not have the high ground of the mountain top. If you think that somehow you become less and less sinful (or apt to sin) as this Christian life goes on, I don’t think that you know sin. Sanctification is separation, not eradication. Ask Paul. (Romans 7:25) So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is an expectation of that allowance and trust. It’s going to compel us to want to please God; to want to be careful with our hearts.
Let me try to explain this. In other words (1 John 4:19) We love him, because he first loved us. We are going to make the effort to purify ourselves because he loved and cared enough to purify us. (1 John 3:3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.