The hammer strikes the hot metal repeatedly. Muscles, sweat, and skill conspire together to form the steel into the shape and ultimately to the purpose designed by the artisan. The process is dirty, hot, and uncomfortable. Heat radiates from the forge in temperatures that give the craftsman an ununiform tan. He is focused as he heats, strikes, cools and heats again and again. Each moment he shapes and develops the steel. Every once in a while, the artisan will stoke up the heat and examine his work. Sparks fly as the hammer and anvil are used to shape the instrument for common or great purposes, only the creator knows. Regardless of the purpose, the craftsman endures sparks, pain, and the torment of the unending heat. He is able to envision, not only this instrument, but its purpose in the light of bigger and more enduring purposes. Those purposes may never be seen by the created item, but they are real.
What must this be like for the item being forged? They are repeatedly hammered upon, stuck in extreme heat, and then dipped in a cool bath only to be heated again and again. The sound of the hammering is constant and never ending. If the instrument had a voice, would it sound out a complaint against the abuse rendered on it by the creator?
What that item can not fully comprehend is that each dip in the heat, each hammer strike and each shaping blow is designed to strengthen and develop that instrument to be used to the full. All of the pain has the purpose of shaping it to endure and impact the world wherever it goes.
But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. -2 Samuel 24:24
The Lord our God desires to shape us into instruments and vessels to be used for purposes. Even if you were created for common purposes, you have great value. The Creator is beating and shaping you to fulfill His purposes. As He shapes us we loudly complain and accuse Him of a lack of love. If He should choose to not form us, strengthen us, develop us we would complain that we are facing circumstances that we cannot understand and were not prepared for.
We are never content.
This people, the people of our modern culture, want to get the blessings without the price. They want muscles that come in a bottle. They want relationships without risk. They want education without studying. They want to be seen as men or women of God without prayer and intense Bible study, and most importantly, without repentance.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” ― G.K. Chesterton
King David refused to make a sacrifice that cost Him nothing. Our culture has created this user-friendly version of the faith where we sit in a church pew and sing some entertaining songs and go out quickly to lunch with little to no impact on our lives. If we really want to live for God, it will cost us everything. We must live a life that is 100% all in. This is about more than daily devotion. This is about training. The church was designed to be a training ground for us to be forged into instruments that can and will be used by the King of Kings. You might think that you are too common to be shaped and used. Check out the story of Gideon (Judges 7) who at the instruction of God used pitchers and torches to defeat a much larger enemy. There is nothing so common that God can not use it. In one case, God used the jawbone of a donkey. Oh, and by the way, He also used a living donkey. Hear that, even if you are a stubborn donkey of a man or woman, God can and will use you.
To be fully used, we must be willing to be forged in all areas of our life. This world is in opposition to the Kingdom of God and the King is calling out to us to join Him in the efforts. Listen to His instructions. He does not guide us as the world does. He is above science, philosophy and even our theology. I confess that His ways don’t always make sense to me. I choose to be forged by Him anyway because He is good. Whatever His purposes are, they are good.
