Zechariah 13:9 Refining our ability to trust God

No one invites trouble into their life BUT God will always make a way to turn it for our good. He takes the very things that could have destroyed our faith and uses it for our testimony to His goodness and loving kindness. Joy in the Lord is our strength!

To God belongs all praise and glory!

Isaiah 48:10 

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

The gift of enough—to be alive and well in my own skin... Yes. From there we make the choice to be open, available, curious, empathetic, compassionate, and willing to be surprised by joy. To know there is “precious” power in the word “enough.”   SabbathMoments 

The people who make a difference are not the ones with credentials, but the ones with the concern. Max Lucado

Zechariah 13:9

9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, 

Will refine them as silver is refined, 

And test them as gold is tested. 

They will call on My name, 

And I will answer them. 

I will say, ‘This is My people’; 

And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ” 

The New King James Version

The remnant that survives will be purged, purified, and reestablished in a covenant relationship with God.

Refined: The smelting pot uses intense heat to separate the dross from pure metal. Once refined, precious metal must be analyzed to determine its value. 

The expressions this is My people and the Lord is my God recall the covenant (Leviticus 26:12) and speak here of a covenant renewal to a spiritually revitalized Israel (Ezekiel 36:28; Hosea 2:23; Romans 11:26, 27). The NKJV Study Bible

And if we are his people, we shall be refined as gold; he will be God, and the end of all our trials and sufferings will be praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Psalm 50:15 

Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

Psalm 66:10 

For You, O God, have tested us;

You have refined us as silver is refined.

Zechariah 10:6 

“I will strengthen the house of Judah,

And I will save the house of Joseph.

I will bring them back,

Because I have mercy on them.

They shall be as though I had not cast them aside;

For I am the LORD their God,

And I will hear them.

Malachi 3:3 

He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi,

And purge them as gold and silver,

That they may offer to the LORD

An offering in righteousness.