The Kiln

“Consider it a great joy, brothers, when you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:2-3)

If you take a lump of clay and mold it into a pot and let it dry in the sun, you will have a very fine clay pot. It will be useful for a while, but it is too fragile to last long. It’s too brittle and will break easily. Take the pot and put it into a white hot kiln for half a day, take it out, let it cool, and you will then have a much stronger, more durable pot with a greater number of uses. Take the same pot, glaze it, and put it back into the kiln for another half day, and you will end up with a pot that is even stronger and more durable and beautiful to boot, and its usefulness multiplies even more.

The trials of life are a testing of our faith. They are like a kiln that is used to superheat our faith to make it strong and durable. We may not understand why God allows us to go through the various trials we face in life, but we can be certain that God will use those trials to strengthen our faith. His purpose in allowing those trials is to use them to produce endurance, so that we may deepen our walk with Him.

Lord, We confess that we do not like the heat of the trials we go through, and we sometimes honestly do not understand why you allow us to go through them. But we also know that You always use those trials to strengthen our faith and our endurance. And for that we are grateful. Amen.