Metal...

Metal… What kind of metal are you made of?

When I was younger, I remember older people talking about someone’s character and use that phrase. ‘We’ll see what kind of metal he/she is made of’.

When the fire gets hot and the testing comes….you do indeed find out what kind of metal you are made of.

I don’t know a lot about metal working. I know that a new iron skillet is awful when it’s new…it needs to be heated and oiled, ‘seasoned’, before it is useful for cooking.

I know that silver has to be heated so that the ‘dross’ comes to the surface and is removed, leaving the silver pure and beautiful.

This morning as I continue my reading of Psalm 119, I come to this…


“All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross; therefore I love your statutes.
My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.” (v. 119,120)

Dross is discarded.

I reflect back on my life and I can see times of heated testing, and can be thankful for those very painful times. Now. Certainly not then. Refining is not pleasant. But it is necessary.

My God is holy and perfect. Everything and every one else is just simply not. We fall so far short of perfection, and we are so incapable of fixing that problem.

I too find myself in awe of His law, of His perfection. I too tremble when I see my imperfect sinful self compared to His holiness.


“Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.
Uphold me, and I will be delivered.” (v. 16,17)

He is the only hope I have. His upholding me is my only chance of deliverance. “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.” (v. 114)