How Much of God Do You Really Want?
What if the seasons you most want to escape are the very ones God is using to give you more of Himself? The furnace may feel unbearable, but it’s often where His presence becomes most real.
The truth is, the Lord longs to draw near—but the path to knowing Him more deeply almost always passes through the fire.
How much of God do you really want? It’s an uncomfortable question, because wanting more of Him often means walking through seasons we would never choose for ourselves.
What Is the Furnace?
The furnace is the place of intense pressure. It’s where unmet desires bring pain into your life. It’s where you deeply feel the effects of a fallen world, whether through chronic pain or the loss of someone you love, and you find yourself wrestling with hard questions. It’s where expectations suddenly burst and disappointment and disorientation take their place.
The heat has been turned up. I wonder if you’ve ever been there. Often, these seasons are lengthy, and we can react to them in a variety of ways.
1. Escapism — Getting Out at Any Cost
The temperature is too intense, so we look for ways to relieve the pressure. We want our faith refined, but not by the Master’s way. We want sanctification to come through comfort. We want change to come on our terms. Certainly not through waiting. Definitely not through suffering or fire.
So instead of trusting in God’s designs, we take matters into our own hands. I’ve seen many single Christian men and women enter into unhealthy relationships because they settled for someone good instead of someone godly. They sacrificed their convictions because they were tired of the furnace. They wanted out.
2. Cynicism — Enduring Without Transformation
We endure the furnace, but we’re upset with God about it. We resist the very fire God intends to transform us, refusing its intended effect. We grow bitter toward what He’s allowing us to go through.
Sure, we “bite the bullet,” press on, and survive but in our own strength. Prayer fades. Dependence on God drifts. We wait for the temperature to cool, then boast about how we survived it. What gets birthed is self-righteousness, not Christlikeness.
3. Embracing the Furnace — Trusting the Master Refiner
But there’s a third way, one that leads to intimacy with God and a change within us from the inside out. Though we wouldn’t choose the furnace for ourselves, we choose to embrace it and thus find ourselves forged into the image of Jesus. This path requires faith, but we can embrace the furnace because of three profoundly comforting truths:
He Has His Careful Eye on Us
Do you notice what the refiner does while we’re in the fire? He sits:
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” (Malachi 3:3)
Sitting doesn’t mean passively watching. If silver is left too long in the fire, it can be damaged. It can be made brittle or rendered unusable. The Master Refiner won’t allow that for vessels He desires to use. God’s work is intentional, perfectly timed, and loving.
On Friday, one of our daughters had to get a cavity filled. For a child, it’s a scary thing: shots in the gums, strangers hovering over your face, a mask over your mouth, but knowing Mom or Dad is within arm’s reach makes it bearable. She knew she was there for her good. In the same way, we can embrace the furnace because He is near.
He Is Making Us More Like Jesus
Imagine looking over the shoulder of a silversmith and asking, “How do you know when the purifying process is complete?” The silversmith replies, “Oh, that’s easy! When I can see my own image in it.”
The furnace is where the strikes of God shape us into the likeness of Jesus, where the fire forms the fruit of Christ in us.
Jesus Enters the Furnace With Us
Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3? They were thrown into a Babylonian furnace for refusing to worship an idol. But a fourth man appeared with them in the fire, protecting them. Most scholars agree this was a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus.
God not only sits in the fire with us—He steps into it Himself.
Don’t Forfeit the Furnace
What we so desperately want to avoid, namely pain and suffering, is often what God uses to draw us closer to Him. In fact, the fire we endure allows us to more fully grasp what Jesus endured for us.
If there was ever a furnace to face, it was the cross He bore: to carry the sin of the world, absorb God’s wrath, and endure judgment for our wrongs. There were plenty of “off-ramps” He could have taken, but He stayed the course.
When we’re thrown into the fire—though it’s nothing compared to His suffering—we gain a deeper sense of His sacrifice, and He draws near to us. Our fire forges a connection to His, and our hearts grow more aware of His care, His extraordinary power, and His satisfying presence.
If you want more of God, don’t forfeit the furnace. Embrace it. Will you trust Him in times of great difficulty? If you do, you’ll find Him closer than ever before.