Glares

“His anger has torn me and hunted me down, He has gnashed at me with His teeth; My adversary glares at me.” Job 16:9

Glares – Job’s story is my story.  In some respects, it is probably your story too.  Job cries out.  “God has sharpened His eyes toward me!”  The translation here is a metaphorical use of a word (latash) that means “to sharpen”, like sharpening a sword.  Job’s emotions make him feel as though God has him in the smithy’s fire.

Job says that the eyes of God are turning him red hot, folding him over and over and hammering him into shape.  Then they are filing him back and forth until he is sharpened.  It is not a gentle process.  When God has you in the smithy’s fire, you know your life is being pounded.

You have probably never seen anyone make a sword.  The smithy heats the metal and then hammers it into shape.  The word (latash) is used to describe the process of beating the metal.   He repeats these steps over and over, folding the metal again and again until it has the right flexibility and strength.  Then he sharpens the blade with a stone, back and forth, back and forth until it will cut the hardest material.

No one likes this feeling.  It is literally life on the edge.  But God is a master sword maker and He knows exactly how many times he must fold us and reheat us in order to produce the kind of sharp edge He will need to use us for His purposes.  We may agonize in the process, but the end is a beautiful, wonderful instrument.  Our lives become the sharpened blade of the Lord, cutting lies from truth, guarding those in our care, defending the honor of the One Who made us.

We all arrive at the point where we discover that God is far more than we imagined.  We all come to that place where we surrender all of our expectations to His sovereignty.  We are going to be shaped into His instruments.  When life feels like the fire of the forge, remember that the skill of the Craftsman is still in control.  When He is done, you will become a powerful weapon for righteousness.

Today’s Commitment:  When things heat up today, I will remember that God is sharpening me into His sword.