Greetings again my Brethren. This month we start a new area of God’s call the making of God’s instrument which is accomplished through a variety of ways. Specifically this month we will be looking at the time tested and true method of the anvil and hammer. Many Christians do not know God is a master builder and that He has a building program picked out for each and every one of His children who he loves and who loves Him. God ALWAYS starts building by first tearing down any foundation in us not of Him. God does not build on a foundation He did not lay.
We see this building program described in two places in the Book of Isaiah. In Chapter 41 God is talking to the nation of Israel through the Prophet Isaiah, “I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. 5The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. 6They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. 7So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.” (Isaiah 41:4-7) At first in these verses God is establishing His credentials as the master builder on our lives, “I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. 5The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.” Unless God can convince us (through His dealings and judgments in our lives) of His credentials and ability to make us the men and women, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers we are to be He will never have a chance to create in us the things we must have to be called His children. It is only when we recognize God as the loving fatherly hammer and His dealings and judgments in our lives is the anvil that fashions and creates in us a new heart, a character like Christ, etc. We are the instrument, we are the workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) that God is creating. Unless we allow God to hammer us “smooth with the hammer” we will never be “ready for the sodering and he that fastened it with nails.” We will be unstable, we will be tossed on every sea of doctrine and every new fad will continue to deceive the masses of Christians today. We will not be secure in our identity, we will not be, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:20-22) All of this work in our lives is done on the anvil as the real work of a potter is done on the wedging board where the impurities and air is worked out of the clay. Later in Isaiah we read, “Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 16Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.” (Isaiah 54:15-16) It is God who creates, “I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for His work.” The “smith” is not a blacksmith that beats a hammer against the anvil forging and repairing things, but those things that God creates in our lives that makes us the instrument in His hands to do the things He has called us to do. Unless we submit to the testing furnace of God we can never be the instrument that will be able to withstand God’s future testings, but the trials, tribulations, and persecutions of life we must face daily. Where is our Godly metal manufactures? In good times and in green pastures? Oh no my friend in tough and austere times and in those wilderness experiences God can get our attention, but God has also created, “the waster to destroy.” Who would think God would create something to destroy us? God creates all things even evil and darkness, “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6-7) God wants us to know He creates all things even, “the waster to destroy.”
Next month we will look at the making of God’s instrument through the school of failure. A school where lessons really matter if we desire to grow spiritually. Remember many are called but few are chosen. Do you hear Him now?
