Isaiah 48:10-11 (ESV)

Bible Commentary

In the English Standard Version, Isaiah 48 is entitled “Israel Refined for God’s Glory”.  Do you ever feel like you’re in the fire of affliction? Or been through trying times that left you stripped of all you had–pride, material possessions, hope, joy, peace and happiness? I have. It might be gradually over a long period of time or maybe it was in one tragic event in your life or in the life of one near to you.

Like me, you might be grappling with “why”? It doesn’t make sense. It didn’t line up with God’s promises and the abundant life He promised through Jesus Christ. If we’re a believer in Christ and a son or daughter of the Most High, why did we have to go through such heartache and pain? And even though we’re past the darkest part of that event, our minds keep being drawn back to the pain in our memories, and we just can’t shake it off. Even though the sun is shining on the outside, we are living in the dark on the inside.

I’ve seen God do tremendous breakthroughs from the pain of my past, but quite frankly, if I had known what I would go through to see those breakthroughs, I wouldn’t have had the courage to go forward. I knew God was answering prayers, but I had no idea how He would use me to do so. What if I hadn’t prayed that big prayer? What if I hadn’t offered my body to Him as a living sacrifice? What if I didn’t have that sin in my heart that needed cleansing?

Undoing the Past

It was like I was trying to go back in time and undo whatever set it all in motion, so that I could escape it. Even though I know God uses all things for our good (Romans 8:28), I was still unsettled in my spirit. It happened in the past. Would it happen again? I can’t bear it again. Sometimes we cause our own pain by the thoughts we think. It’s tough to break out of the deep grooves of our thought patterns.

And then recently at church, a man was giving his testimony and he cited Isaiah 48:10-11.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.

It was not necessarily for our benefit He took us through the furnace of affliction. It was for His.  It is for His Name’s Sake that He leads us. That might sound harsh to a non-believer, but for me it healed me of my warped thinking that was centered around myself, and not around my Lord. I kept trying to make sense of my pain in my own human and selfish thinking.

It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Whatever suffering we have been through or are experiencing right now, it can’t compare to what our Lord went through during the crucifixion, not to mention what Father God went through watching His perfect Son be tortured, beaten and crucified at the hands of sinners.

When we can’t wrap our minds around the “why” in our own lives, we must get our focus off ourselves and back on Christ. When we do that, we’ll be established, rooted and grounded in Him where we belong.

When the truth of Isaiah 48:10-11 sank in for me, I was re-centered in my mind and heart. I was satisfied and freed from the prison of my own thoughts and doubts. I could accept that truth and humble myself before an Almighty God Who loves me and gave His only Son to save me. It is in humility where I found safety and peace again.

I hope and pray it is the same for you. Be free. Be safe and know the peace of the Lord that passes all understanding. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.