SCRIPTURE:
“Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.’ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’” Ezekiel 22:17-22
OBSERVATION:
The Lord directed Ezekiel to advise the people that they had become dross to Him. Dross is defined as solid impurities of molten metal. Although dross is not totally worthless where it can be used in secondary steelmaking, it does not have the value or worth of the metal it has been separated from; the result being the pure metal that is the core product of the molten process. The Lord states that the people had become dross to Him in their actions, idolatry, character and heart. Thus He cast them to the fire of the city; in fact His fiery wrath of challenges and conflict within the city, to melt them away, or what I am concluding as dispersed of with no further use.
APPLICATION:
My understanding is that the dross is formed during a lower melting heat process rather then a fiery furnace process. So to does it often seem with sin in our lives that it can be a gradual process of sin taking place in our lives, our moving away from what the Lord would want for our lives and who we are called to be; the word compromise comes to mind, where our compromises result in our value in who we are in Christ and what He can do through us is diminished. I would surmise that we often are not even aware of the dross that is forming in our lives. Thus, the more dross that is formed, the less of pure precious metal that can be used by the Lord. I also know that the process of going through the fires of challenges and conflict can also be a good process to bring forth the areas in our lives that need to be removed as dross; those character issues and propensity of sin that in fact need to be heated in a molten way to be identified and cast off.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, may the process of going through the heated situations in life be two-fold; one to keep from letting sin in my life result in my value and worth to you diminishing where to much of my potential is turning to dross. However, may those areas in my life that need to be purged through the heat of life be separated from me as dross and cast off and out.
