About eight years after he had given his heart to God, a blacksmith was approached by an intelligent unbeliever with the question: "Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you Since you have been saved and began to 'walk square and seem to love everybody, you have had twice as many trials and accidents as you had before. I thought that when a man gave himself to God, his troubles were over. Isn't that what the preachers tell us?”
With a thoughtful, but glowing face, the blacksmith replied: "Do you see this piece of iron? It's for the springs of a carriage. I've been 'tempering' it for some time. To do this I heat it red-hot and then plunge it into a tub of ice-cold water. This I do many times. If I find it taking 'temper,' I heat and hammer it unmercifully. In getting the right piece of iron, I found several that were too brittle, so I threw them in the scrap pile. Those scraps are worth about a cent a pound; this spring is very valuable.”
He paused, and his listener nodded. The blacksmith continued: "God saves us for something more than to have a good time—that is the way I see it. We have the good time all right, for God's smile means heaven. But He wants us for service, just as I want this piece of iron. And He has put the 'temper' of Christ in us by testing and molding us with trial. Ever since I saw this, I have been saying to Him, 'Test me in any way Thou dost choose, Lord; only don't throw me into the scrap pile?”
"The Lord of hosts...shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver" (Mal. 3:1, 31Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)
3And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3)),