“He knows the way that I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Job 23:10
What makes gold so desirable that men have sought it since ancient times? In addition to its scarcity, gold is incredibly malleable. A single ounce can be hammered into a 300-square-foot sheet — the area of a standard hotel room. A skilled craftsman can manipulate gold into almost any shape!
Over two thousand years ago, God used gold to answer a pagan king’s question about the future of his kingdom. As Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, fell asleep pondering how his descendants would rule the known world forever, God revealed other plans. He gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream of a statue of many metals: a head of gold, a chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron. Read about it in Daniel 2. God used this image to communicate the future of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. Each successive metal represented a different kingdom that would conquer the one before it, beginning with Babylon, the head of gold.
At first, Nebuchadnezzar praised God for this revelation, then he had second thoughts. Instead of surrendering to God’s plan, Nebuchadnezzar came up with his own. In the next chapter of Daniel we see Nebuchadnezzar replace God’s image with a huge metal image of his own, a 90-foot tall idol made entirely of gold, stating in no uncertain terms that his plan was for his kingdom to last forever.
It’s easy to shake our heads at Nebuchadnezzar for trying to shape his own future, but how often do I see God’s plan for my life and say, “I like my plan better,” then start molding my image more to my liking? I’ve made the same mistake as Nebuchadnezzar!
Most often when I take the reins from God’s hands, I’m steering towards the “easy” road, or the “fun” path, not the “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me” way. But without trials in life, without hardships, how can I ever develop genuine faith in God? That is why God advises His people in Revelation 3:18 to buy from Him “gold refined in the fire,” not our own gold, but what 1 Peter 1:7 calls genuine faith, a faith that’s been tested in the fire and made pure. The trials we experience are the hands of God molding us into the shape He wants, a different kind of golden image, one made in His likeness.
So we can be comforted when we have trials, trusting God’s promise that we “shall come forth as gold”. And God doesn’t abandon us to endure our trials alone. In the very next verse Job said, “my foot has held fast to His steps, I have kept His way and not turned aside” (Job 23:11). Just as God led Job through his great trial, God will always lead us, showing the way through. If we follow His footsteps, we are promised to come forth as gold.
Hold Fast to God's Plan
Don’t fall for the temptation to follow your own way. Hold fast to God’s plan for your life! And as this world’s final events unfold, you will have developed a faith strong enough to carry you through.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
