Trials
You perhaps recall the story of the
blacksmith who gave his heart to God. Though conscientious in
his living, still he was not prospering materially. In fact, it
seemed that after his conversion, more trouble, affliction, and loss
were sustained than ever before. Everything seemed to go wrong.
One day a friend, who was not a
Christian, stopped at the little shop of the blacksmith to talk
with him. Sympathizing with him in some of his trials, the friend
said, "It seems strange to me that so much affliction should pass
over you just at the time when you have become an earnest Christian.
Of course, I don't want to weaken your faith in God, or anything
like that, but here you are with God's help and guidance, and yet
things seem to be getting steadily worse. I can't help
wondering why it is."
The blacksmith did not answer
immediately, and it was evident that he had thought of the
same question before. But finally he said, "You see the raw iron
which I have here to make into horseshoes. You know what I do with
it? I take a piece and heat it in the fire until it is red, almost
white with the heat. Then I
Hammer it unmercifully
to shape it as I know it should be shaped.
Then, I plunge it into a
pail of cold water to temper it. Then, I heat it again and hammer it some
more. And this I do until it is finished.
"But sometimes I
find a piece of iron that won't stand up under this treatment. The heat and
the hammering and the cold water are too much for it. I don't know why
it fails in the process, but I
know it will never make
a good horseshoe.
He pointed to a heap of scrap iron
that was near the door of his shop. "When I get a piece
that cannot take the shape and temper, I throw it out on the scrap heap. It
will never be good for anything."
He went on, "I know that God has
been holding me in the fires of affliction and I have felt his hammer
upon me, but I don't mind if only he can bring me to what I should
be. And so in all these hard things, my prayer is simply this:
'Try me in any way you wish Lord, but please don't throw me on the
scrap heap.'"