Extracting The Precious From The Worthless
Posted By Joe on December 7, 2009
Things have settled down a little around here since Thanksgiving.
The day before Thanksgiving, I received a phone call from the hiring manager I interviewed with a couple weeks previously. He made me a formal job offer. After a little over four months of being out of work, I had gotten the phone call I had been waiting for.
God was at work through it all. In fact, I also had a great opportunity to go back to work for a former employer. I had put all of my focus on that when I got the call to come in for an interview with the company the ended up hiring me. I even had an opportunity in September that was minutes away from my house, but I do not believe that is what God had for me. He had something better for me if I would just listen to his voice.
So, since Thanksgiving--how appropriate that God would allow the phone call the day before Thanksgiving--I have received the formal offer letter and have filled out all the requisite forms and went to the drug screening. Now it's just a matter of the company confirming I am who I say I am. I will be showing up at the office on Monday, December 21. Praise God!
I never doubted that God had plans for us while I was in the unemployment wilderness. I knew that He had things to teach me and I did the best I could to learn those lessons. It was easier at some times than others.
Ironically, it wasn't until this past Sunday that God gave me a passage that really opened my eyes to what I went through. It came from my pastor during service yesterday. He shared it as the key verse that helped him during a dark time in his ministry. And so, I would like to share it with you in case you find yourself in a dark place.
Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive steam with water that is unreliable? --Jeremiah 15:18.
Sound familiar? Can you relate?
Therefore, thus says the Lord, "If you return, then I will restore you--before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them." --Jeremiah 15:19.
There's the key: "If you return [to Me], then I will restore you." How often will God send trials our way to get our attention so we draw closer to Him.
And then God gives Jeremiah a key lesson: "if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman." If we go through dark times and learn nothing, then the trial and the lesson were worthless! Don't squander an opportunity to listen to the voice of God when He is trying to teach you something!
"Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you," declares the Lord. --Jeremiah 15:20.
The verse reminds me of Paul's words to the Romans:
What then shall we say to these things? IF God is for us, who is against us? --Romans 8:31.
I know there are brothers and sisters-in-Christ struggling through trials right now: health, unemployment, finances, etc. But God is faithful! Return to Him; draw nearer to Him. Hold fast!
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good. --1 Thessalonians 4:21.
I'd like to open this up to prayer requests or sharing what you're going through or to testify to what God has taught you through trials.
About the author
My prayers for "healing" have melted into prayers of acceptance. Even if my wife's cancer takes her life....it is but another cry from heaven that I need a Savior! He is rich in mercy and grace. He is a wonderful God when He heals....and He is a wonderful God when He doesn't!!
Amen! It's so hard to realize that sometimes when we pray for God to heal us, that that answer isn't always "yes." In fact, so often we think God didn't answer our prayer because the answer was "no." Well, God did answer: He said "no."
Paul provides such a great lesson when explains the three times he prayed for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. What did God say to him? "My grace is sufficient for you."
God bless you and Carol!