Isaiah 48 Devotional

Refined but Not Cut Off

“See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”Isaiah 48:10 (BSB)

God does not flatter his people in this chapter. They swear by his name, but not in truth (48:1-2). He calls them stubborn, with necks like iron and foreheads like bronze, and says he announced events ahead of time so they could not credit their idols (48:4-5). He knew they were rebels from birth (48:8).

So why does he not give up on them? For the sake of his own name he holds back his anger, so that they are not cut off (48:9). He has refined them in the furnace of affliction (48:10). Hard seasons are not his abandonment but his purifying work. He still teaches them what is good for them and leads them in the way they should go (48:17), and he longs aloud for the river of peace that could have been theirs (48:18). Hebrews says God disciplines his children for their good, so that they share his holiness (Hebrews 12:10). In the furnace, you can be sure the One refining you has not let you go.

To think about: What hard season might God be using to refine you, and how does knowing he has not cut you off change how you face it?