CLING! clang! goes the hammer on the anvil, then down on the hot iron, and sparks fly in all directions; thus the hard iron is formed into different shapes as the blacksmith desires. But how does he form that hard iron into shoes, and make them just the size that he wants them? He first puts it into the fire, and the man at the bellows blows up the fire, and that makes the iron soft and pliable, so that when the hammer is brought down on it, it yields, and is formed into the shape required.
This is the way God has to do with His people sometimes. He has to put them into the furnace of trial, and that softens and breaks their wills, and then He can fit them for the service He has for them to do.
Are you one of His people, dear reader? If you are, be not surprised then, if He puts you into difficulties, for He loves His own too much to allow them to go on according to their own thoughts, and be like the people of the world. He has a different place for each of His own to fill, and they have to be formed in all their ways, so as to fill their own special place, and in the furnace of trial He softens them, and with the hammer of His Word He bends and forms the will to be subject to Him, and to become more like our blessed Lord who could say,
ML 09/28/1924