November 25

God’s shaping process

“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2).
“Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12).

A man who had heard a piano for the first time was so thrilled and enraptured with the wondrous melody that he determined to see the factory where pianos were made. When he arrived, instead of hearing many mingling strains of music, he found only the whirl and buzz of machinery, the rasping sound of saws, the clatter of hammers, the patter of hurrying feet, and dust and din, and stroke and shout, as the work went on.
As he went on from room to room the uproar continued, and he despaired and questioned whether he had really found a piano factory. Not until he had reached the last room was he able to hear the finished piano’s lovely music.


So many persons who desire the “beauty of holiness” become discouraged as God works upon their carnal hearts in sawing, shaping, planing, polishing and constructing the true character of holiness by divine process; they draw away from the very processes that God planned for them in preparation for the incoming of the Sanctifier. But they who patiently endure . . . at last come forth in the “beauty of holiness.”

The hammer of Thy discipline, O Lord,
Strikes fast and hard. Life’s anvil rings again
To Thy strong strokes. And yet we know ’tis then
That from the heart’s hot iron all abroad
The rich glow spreads. Great Fashioner divine,
Who spareth not, in Thy farseeing plan,
The blows that shape the character of man,
Or fire that makes him yield to touch of Thine,
Strike on, then, if Thou wilt! For Thou alone
Canst rightly test the temper of our will,
Or tell how these base metals may fulfill
Thy purpose—making all our life Thine own.
Only we do beseech Thee, let the pain
Of fiery ordeals through which we go
Shed all around us such a warmth and glow,
Such cheerful showers of sparks in golden rain,
That hard hearts may be melted, cold hearts fired,
And callous hearts be taught to feel and see
That discipline is more to be desired
Than all the ease that keeps us back from Thee.

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