Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand. (Daniel 12:10)
When I flush the toilet, befouled water is swept through pipes until it shows up at the sewage plant. After sticks and debris are screened off, the “waste liquor” is sprayed over a bed of jagged stones. Each drop percolates down the gauntlet of rough surfaces, is collected at the bottom, and returned to the top for repeated buffeting. This process forces life-giving oxygen into the droplets so invisible microbes can consume the waste.
The removal of sewage from water is disgusting business, but then, so is the removal of sin from a heart.
Daniel says the wise understand what happens when they encounter rocky trials. Understanding allows them to embrace the process. Everybody, wise and unwise alike, has the brown sludge of self-rule in their hearts. Everybody is strained through the rocks of life. But only the wise use the buffeting for purification.
The unwise simply bounce from one trial to another, never seeking God’s strength or perspective. They come out at the bottom as soiled with attachments to earthly life as when they went in. What a pity they endure suffering for nothing. How grieved is the heart of God over the unwise.
There is much to be gained in trials. Each rock forces me against the life-giving Spirit, begging for his comfort and direction. With an invisible process, the awe of Christ consumes my contaminated agenda. The waste liquor of self-rule is removed, and I’m left with nothing but a sparkling trust in God.
Prayer: Lord, help me accept purification.