Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
A new “Adult Sabbath School Study Guide” lesson quarterly for our third quarter of 2022 titled “In the Crucible with Christ”, and our first lesson titled “The Shepherd’s Crucible”. I really like the introduction on pages 2-3. As it so accurately quotes EGW, “the cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God” (Education pg. 263). Such a great quote describing what we are to see as we look to the cross (not payment of penalty but our Father who shares our death). And to see the true nature and consequences of sin. Therefore, for this quarter, “our lessons are… an attempt to help us work through the inevitable suffering we all face here in a world in which sinning is as easy as breathing” (Quarterly pg. 3). To see that suffering, yet to see “the God who, though He made all things, suffered all things, too” (Ibid).
In our first lesson, we look at the life of the shepherds in Old Testament times, especially as David has penned it in Psalms 23. Our quarterly does a good job of delving into that Psalm to get all the “juice” we can. Surely, the life of a shepherd and of the sheep are an eerie parallel to our Heavenly “Shepherd” and to us “sheep”. As we study this, you may want to look at that incomparable work written by Phillip Keller over 52 years ago. “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” delves into each verse of Psalm 23 to see the deeper meanings that only a shepherd would realize. Pastor Keller, a shepherd himself as a young man during the Great Depression, gives much insight and understanding to this. Understanding that lends such spiritual meaning to the words, concepts and ideas of Psalm 23. A most important work by a Godly inspired Pastor.
Crucible. According to “Dictionary.com”:
1. a container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures.
2. In metallurgy. a hollow area at the bottom of a furnace in which the metal collects.
3. a severe, searching test or trial.
This is what a walk with our Lord is like. The idea that all will be “roses and lollipops” (song composed by Tony Velona) once we choose to follow our Lord is Hollywood claptrap. A false conception that appeals to us sinners. But the truth of following our Lord is the opposite of what the world values, just as our lives will be the opposite of what the world values. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15: 18-19). Remember this. As Christians, we are of another world, another country. Not of this world, nor of this earthly country. And as such, our lives here are a “crucible”. But praise God for the crucible of this life. For in the crucible, our steely hearts are melted and we can be molded anew into a vessel of God’s own making.
Let us not fear the crucible of life. We fear it will destroy all that we are. In fact, the crucible of life that God allows destroys all that is not you. All that is inferior. All that is impure. And when the slag and impurities are gone, all that remains is the pure metal, ready for the Master’s Hand. To mold and fashion you into a vessel of love.
With brotherly love,
Jim