Be Still And Go

Malachi 3:1-4See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.//I used to believe the refiner’s fire was meant to add suffering so we are purified by pain. But that paints a very masochistic view of God. If God is holy and just and loving, God’s fire illuminates so that we can draw together to relieve suffering of one another. Do not fear the refiner’s fire. It lights truth and justice and a path forward that includ