Refine me like gold, oh Lord

Gold. The most coveted metal. What makes this substance of more value than the splendor of silver or beauty of precious jewels? The process. ALERT! BORING FACT TIME (provided to you by one who is less than an expert to make matters even less-interesting). In order to achieve 1 ounce of gold, one must first chisel out approximately 100,000 ounces of ore. Next, this ore must be hauled off to a mill where it is crushed into a fine powder. After this stage, the ore is mixed with a concoction of chemicals (of which I couldn’t even begin to pronounce the names) and is heated seven times by fire (reaching temperatures I cannot fathom). Each time the dross, or impurities, must be scraped off the top of the heated gold, until it has reached its purest form.
Scripture is dead on (of course) when it addresses the idea of our hearts being refined like gold, but I never quite grasped the parallel. After the fall of man, we acquired (wait, that’s such a pleasant word, shall I say were cursed with?) a sin nature. When fully developed (or even when newly birthed in a young child), this nasty disease, which affects all aspects of the body and soul, seems to overshadow and squelch the precious, original purpose for which we were first intended. Like the ore, our sin nature and iniquity must be crushed and humbled when we chose to take up our cross and follow our King. Then, like ore is heated seven times (funny how the process of refining embraces the number of completion…think that’s chance? I think not.) to remove impurities, we are given trials—heat, and circumstances, which cause our imperfections and all that is impure to rise to the surface. Yet, each time, as God removes the dross, or immorality from our heart and actions, we are in the process of being refined. Each time, we grow in wisdom and in oneness with the will of God. We are not purified by one trial or one heated experience. Purification takes time until the day when we will be presented to God, pure, whole, shining in beauty. Anyway, I’m just blown away at the patience of God. He is SO good. We must let him refine us. I still have a fair amount of dross. Praise the Lord he’s not finished with me yet.