God who refines the heart
[Proverbs 17:3-5, 7-8, 20, 23]
Yesterday, during the early morning prayer meeting on Tuesday, I meditated on the word of God centered on Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” While meditating on this word of God, I thought that rather than praying to God that we Christians do not face fearful situations, we should ask God to have faith that we can completely trust in God who is with us and truly helps us even when we are in such situations. The reason is that first, we must realize how lacking our faith is even when faced with fearful situations, and second, we must be disciplined through those fearful situations and grow in faith that trusts God more. Do you want your faith and belief to be disciplined even through the fearful situations, adversities, and crises that you face?
Let’s look at today’s text, Proverbs 17:3. The Bible says, “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.” How does God test our hearts? Let’s think about Proverbs 17 in three ways and learn the lessons that God gives us and you:
First, God tests our hearts through those who tell lies.
Look at Proverbs 17:4: “An evildoer listens to perverse lips, and a liar listens to a perverse tongue.” Here, the common denominator between “an evildoer” and “a liar” is that they both listen to wicked and evil words too easily. Here, ‘evil words’ refers to evil words (conversations) that are gossiping, evil plans, lies, or slander, and ‘evil words’ refers to words spoken by those who commit evil and lie to ruin and destroy others (Walvoord). Those who do such evil or tell lies speak evil and wicked words with their lips, and eventually sin against God. One example is the fact that David’s son Amnon sinned by following the words of his friend Jonadab (Park Yun-seon). When Amnon was seriously ill because of Tamar, Absalom’s beautiful sister, the virgin, Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, who was very crafty, said to Amnon (2 Sam 13:1-3): “Go to your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, you shall say, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and feed me; let her prepare food in my presence, and let me eat it with her hands’” (v. 5). When Amnon heard this, he pretended to be sick and went to bed, but his father King David came to visit him and asked King David to have his sister Tamar come and make him a couple of cakes and feed him with her own hands (v. 6). King David granted his request, and Tamar eventually went to her brother Amnon’s house and tried to make cakes for him, but she was raped by him (v. 14). Another example is the fact that the Jews listened to the words of false prophets (Isaiah 30:9-11; Jeremiah 38:1-6) (Park Yun-seon). While all the false prophets were seeking the peace of the Israelites, the prophet Jeremiah correctly prophesied that Israel would fall into the hands of the Babylonian army (Jeremiah 38:3). Why did the Jews listen to the words of false prophets instead of the truthful words of the prophet Jeremiah? The reason was that the Jewish people were “a rebellious people, lying children, children who refused to listen to the law of the Lord” (Isaiah 30:9). So they said to the true prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (v. 10).
God Who Refines the Heart
In Matthew 24:24, Jesus speaks about the signs of the end of the world: “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Today, these false Christs and false prophets are spewing countless lies (Proverbs 14:5). As false witnesses, they are attempting to deceive us, the chosen Christians, with their lies. Why are they speaking lies?
Let us look at Proverbs 17:20: “He who has a deceitful heart finds no good, and he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.” The reason is that their hearts are deceitful. In other words, their hearts are rebellious. That is, because the hearts of these false witnesses are deceitful, their lips inevitably speak lies. The liar and father of lies, Satan (John 8:44), is now causing false witnesses to speak lies, not only to deceive us Christians but also to destroy and ruin our souls. Satan has already led liars to deceive church leaders, causing them to sin against God.
Look at Proverbs 17:7: “Excessive talking is not suitable for a fool; much less lying for a noble person.” Dr. Park Yun-seon explained: “Here, the ‘noble person’ refers to a leader (Proverbs 8:16). A leader is someone who receives trust and respect from many people. Therefore, truthfulness is his most important qualification. However, if he becomes corrupt and lies, it goes against the expectations of many, and as a result, many will stumble” (Park Yun-seon).
How many believers are stumbling because of the actions of our church leaders? How many of our church leaders are hiding the truth and speaking lies? Are we not living a false life, a false faith, and preaching a false gospel? Why does God, in His sovereignty, allow liars to deceive us? The reason is that, as stated in today’s passage, Proverbs 17:3, God is refining our hearts. In other words, God is using liars to remove the impurities of lies in our hearts. Just as the furnace refines silver and the smelter refines gold, separating their impurities, God is using the lies of false witnesses to separate the falsehoods in our hearts, purging them through trials and suffering, and removing the lies that are mixed with our faith in God.
Therefore, God will set us free by the truth (John 8:32) and, by making us obey that truth, He will purify our souls, enabling us to love our brothers without deceit (1 Peter 1:22). Moreover, God is raising us up with a sincere heart and sincere love, making us true witnesses of Jesus Christ to save lives (Proverbs 14:25).
Second, God refines our hearts through calamities.As I reflected on this word, I realized that God uses poverty (scarcity, need) in our lives to refine our hearts. I also meditated on connecting this poverty and calamity with the message of Proverbs 17:5. The reason I did this was because of a recent meditation from Ecclesiastes 5:13-16, where I reflected on an unfortunate person who loses all their wealth due to a calamity. In other words, no matter how much wealth or abundance we may have, like Job in the Bible, when calamity strikes, we can instantly become poor and needy. And through such a calamity, God can use poverty to refine our hearts.
How exactly does God refine our hearts through poverty? Let's look at Deuteronomy 8:3: “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” The purpose of God allowing us to hunger is to teach us that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Why does God bring us into poverty? God desires to refine our hearts so that we would realize that we live only by His Word. Moreover, living by His Word means loving God and loving our neighbor. And thus, God desires that we love the poor and even our enemies. Through calamities, God refines our hearts to give us the heart to love others.
Lastly, thirdly, God refines our hearts through bribes.
Look at Proverbs 17:8: “A bribe is like a precious stone in the eyes of its owner; wherever he turns, he prospers.” What is a bribe? One Bible website defines it as: “An unlawful gift given to gain a personal advantage.” Moses’ law forbade receiving bribes (Exodus 23:8). Since God does not accept bribes (Deuteronomy 10:17, 2 Chronicles 19:7), His people should not accept bribes either. The author of Ecclesiastes warns that bribes destroy wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:7). Especially, it was strictly warned for judges (2 Chronicles 19:7). Bribes ultimately pervert justice (1 Samuel 8:3; Proverbs 17:23).
Now, look at Proverbs 17:23: “The wicked accept a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.” So, Proverbs 15:27 says: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.” Personally, when I think of “bribe,” I often think of the politicians in Korea who are frequently investigated by prosecutors after receiving bribes. Many politicians have gone to prison for accepting bribes, but when I see others still being investigated for the same thing, I sometimes wonder why this is happening. The root cause, according to Proverbs 15:27, is their greed for profit. A person who accepts a bribe views it as a precious jewel, satisfying their greed, and they try to achieve the task at hand by force. However, the result is that they are led down a wrong path (Job 36:18; Park Yun-seon).
Brothers and sisters, how does God refine our hearts through bribery? God teaches us justice through bribery. And God desires that we act with a just heart in this unfair world. Furthermore, God helps us realize that it is not bribery that brings prosperity, but the fact that God is with us that makes us prosperous. The reason God refines our hearts through bribery is because He wants to give us joy in our hearts.
Look at Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Though at first the bribe may appear like a gem to the one who receives it, eventually, that person will suffer a crushed spirit because of the bribe and greed. In the end, the person will worry about the bribe they received, and this worry will destroy their soul (Matthew 13:22) (Park Yun-seon). However, those who resist the temptation of greed and are content with the Lord alone will find joy in their hearts. Christians who treasure the presence of God like a precious gem also experience joy in their hearts. And those who live with justice in the presence of God have joy in their hearts. To give us that joy in our hearts, God refines us through bribery.
To conclude the meditation on the Word, when I think about being “refined” or “trained,” I think of Job 23:10: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” How much suffering did Job endure when he faced great calamity? However, he believed that after God refined him, he would come out like pure gold.
Brothers and sisters, today we have learned about God refining our hearts through Proverbs 17:3. God refines us as “liars,” removing all the impurities of lies in our hearts and allowing us to love the Lord with a sincere heart. Through calamities, God allows us to live only by the words that come from His mouth. And through bribery, He refines our hearts, making us realize that the secret to prosperity is God's presence with us.
Therefore, we have learned that God desires us to live out justice in this unfair world. I pray that this lesson, when we encounter liars, calamities, and bribery in our faith journey, will be put into practice, and that we will be blessed to have our hearts refined. May this blessing of being refined in our hearts be upon each of us, in the name of Jesus. Amen.