God, the Blacksmith: A Sneak into His Forge of Purpose[Part 1]..

We call our God our Father, our fortress, our rock, our Shepherd and many other names. He is also an excellent blacksmith. Blacksmiths are people who work with metals and make useful things from them. They make useful utensils with these metals. In olden times, these blacksmiths used to make weapons for battle. If we look at the history of Israel, there was a point where their enemy, the Philistines, somehow managed to bring all the blacksmiths of Israel to their own country, leaving Israel with no blacksmiths. Therefore, they were left with no weapons except for two swords. Now the question, why should we call our God the blacksmith?

I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways. Jeremiah 6:27

This verse was said to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is called the tester of metals and the people of Israel are called the ore. Ores are some rocks that we find in some places which may contain metals. Testers of metals are nothing but objects with which we find the characteristics of the metals. For example, a magnet is a tester of metal since it tells us whether the metals have magnetic properties or not. Jeremiah was called to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant the kingdoms and nations. The reactions of the people when Jeremiah prophesied varied and these reactions revealed their characteristics. That is why God calls Jeremiah the tester of metals.

Why does God call the Israelites ores? Ores are valuable because after some processing we can extract metals from them. It can be silver, gold, iron or any other metal. God sees some potential in us that is why we are called the ore. When He sees us, He sees the value we may possess after some processing. How does God identify these ores? These ores may look like any other rocks but the true blacksmith sees through the dirt and sees some sparkle of metal in that ore. Let’s look at the lives of Jacob and Esau and learn how the God the blacksmith dealt with them.

Jacob and Esau were twins born to Isaac and Rebekah. Rebekah was told that two nations were born in her womb. If we look at these children, they were born on the same day. They looked the same. They were twins, hence, no one could easily differentiate between them. But then why does God say in Romans 9:13, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”? The specialty of this blacksmith is that whichever rock he chooses will be transformed into an ore. As soon as God looked at Jacob with love, he was the ore before that blacksmith. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob and despised it. Whereas Jacob always fought for his blessings. He made plans to receive blessings from his father, he wrestled with the angel of the Lord for blessings. Whereas Esau did not fight or do anything but simply received the blessings from his father.

If we look at Jacob and Esau’s meetings, we see how Esau refused the gifts sent by Jacob because Esau had everything with him. This Jacob had to fight with his uncle and others in order to receive these blessings. Whereas Esau did not suffer like Jacob. That is what God does with ores. When God chooses an ore, He makes sure that ores are processed and the metals are extracted. These processes and refining are very painful but they will surely bring out the lustre and properties of the metals.

Why does God need these ores? These ores are chosen so that God can get the metals for His use. He raises us up so that He might display His power in us and that His name might be proclaimed. Every blacksmith has their own quality and brand. They would want to leave their mark on the metals they make. In the same way, God wants to leave that mark on the metals extracted from the ores.

God had chosen Moses to be the redeemer who would bring Israel out of Egypt. God may have thought, what should be the quality one must have to be the redeemer of Israel? First and foremost, he must know how to govern the people. Second, he must know the difficulties of a shepherd since the majority of Israelites were shepherds. Hence, for the first forty years of Moses’ life, he lived as a prince of Egypt and learned everything about governing the people. The next forty years of his life, he learned the troubles of being a shepherd by being a shepherd for the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. After all these training and processing, if this metal denies the call of the blacksmith, what should the blacksmith do? This blacksmith had spent all these eighty years in the hope that he would get the desired metal and this metal is denying the call. God wants to tell us, if I have done the processing, I need the result. Because I don’t have any other ore in store for this purpose. I prepared you, I need you, you cannot deny the call. Jeremiah, don’t say you are a child; you are my perfect metal. Samuel, don’t wonder where the sound came from; you are my perfect metal. Ananias, don’t be afraid of Paul, “the one who kills God’s people”, because I have chosen him as my instrument.

If God has chosen us as his ore, then be sure there will be processing and refining which would be painful. But don’t shrink back because if you do, he will have no pleasure in you. Be the metal that He desires and be stored in the QUIVER OF GOD