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CHOSEN FOR A PURPOSE

Writer's picture: Kerry Sue TeravskisKerry Sue Teravskis

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.  Isaiah 48:10  KJV

 



At first glance, my eyes focus on affliction, because it is a world that I am very familiar with.  But, when I stepping away and looking past my years of suffering to what God is saying, I see His love.

 

CHOSEN.  For those who love the LORD and have Him as Saviour of their lives, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, God’s very own possession (1 Peter 2:9).  Let that sink in.  God picked us – you know, the proverbial sidelines waiting to be picked for a team?  God did not pass us over.  He chose us.  Even as I type this, I am overwhelmed by His love.

 

THEE.  Me.  You.  Us.  Y’all.  No matter how you say it – it’s the object of the verb.  So. Much. Love.  


IN: This preposition astounds me. It is when we are in the furnace, the affliction, the flames, the trials, we are chosen.

 

FURNACE.  I like warm fires.  I love campfires.  They remind me of sweet times on vacation, camping, cooking dinner over our wood burning stove when the power goes out.  Here in California, we do not have the bellowing furnace in a basement that uses oil.  So, some is lost on us – but I have the description in Daniel 3.  We see a blazing furnace set aside for those who would not fall down and worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statute.  Three guys – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel’s friends) refused to bow down.  They worshipped God and would not falter.  

 

Into the fiery furnace they went.  They testified to God’s protection and His saving power.  King Nebu was furious with this declaration and had the furnace heated 7 times hotter.  Yikes.  The guy was mad.  In more ways than one.  Soldiers who threw in the boys were killed by the intense heat.  It was an intense moment.  A chosen moment.

 

Instantly, the king notices 4 men in the billowing flames.  God, indeed, was with them in the flames.  The rescue operation was not to be snatched out of the flames, but to have Jesus right there in their midst.  

 



AFFLICTION. Pain, suffering, hard times.  Alone.

 

The world’s standard treatment for those who are less than perfect, less than committed, just less than - is abandonment.  Dog eat dog.  Walk away.  If it gets tough, the people around you get walking.  It happens.  Not always, but in my experience, the longer the affliction, the less of a waiting crowd.

 

Because we are chosen, we are chosen to be on a team, in a kingdom, in a family – the family of God.  God therefore provides everything we need.  His promised Holy Spirit lives in us, strengthening us, sheltering us, empowering us with endurance to go the distance.  We will not get burned, drown, walked over.  Sometimes, we physically might have that happen, but never spiritually.  

 

The full verse reads: Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10

 

In other words, the choosing, furnace, affliction and suffering are a refining process. Sanctification.  A setting apart.  To make us more like Jesus – God’s ultimate declaration of His love for us.

 

PRAYER

 

Holy God.  Wow.  You are Sovereign, and in that sovereignty, You chose me.  For a furnace.  In a furnace.  For affliction.  In affliction.  You do not abandon, rather You send Your Helper in my furnace to walk with me.  All I can do is worship.  I lay myself down on the altar, have Your way.  AMEN




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