Is Your Life Idle Ore?

 “Life is not as idle ore,

But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use”. Oswald Chambers 

When I first read this from Oswald Chambers I thought, what the heck does that mean??😂

So you know I had to research!

Ore, such as gold, copper, and iron have to be extracted; dug up, there’s work to be done in order to produce a usable product.

Life, like ore, is not meant to be idle or wasted. We are not meant to be inactive or lazy, just letting life pass us by. But if we are to produce the fruit that God desires it takes work.

As Oswald puts it, life is “iron dug from central gloom”.

Again I needed an understanding of what is this “central gloom”.

 I like this definition, “the difficult, unglamorous, and often painful "valley" experiences of life where a God-given vision must be worked out into reality”

Reminds me of Philippians 2:12(ESV) where Paul reminds us to…“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,”

‭‭Notice it says “work out” not work for, once we place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we’re saved. But that doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax, there’s work to be done.

If we want to grow in the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬(ESV‬‬) “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”, then we must practice them every day. 

And trust me when I say, God will never fail to provide you with a way to practice these traits:)

Which leads me to Oswald’s next point, “And battered by the shocks of doom…”

In order for our lives to be shaped and used as God intends we must endure what Proverbs 20:30 describes as, 

“Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.”

‭‭Doesn’t sound like much fun, sounds painful. 

Yet I suppose pruning the unnecessary things in our lives wasn’t meant to be pain free.

I am reminded of these verses from Matthew 5:29-30, where Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

‭‭Sounds pretty drastic but if we want to grow spiritually, if we want to live a godly life then I suppose it takes drastic measures to remove from our lives whatever has become a stumbling block for us in our relationship with the Lord.

If we are to persevere; to conquer, not quit or give up, then we need to remember that these trials, challenges or struggles we face are “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). We need to see them as ways to draw closer to God. To remember He uses everything He allows to touch our life to grow our faith and trust in Him! (Romans 8:28). 

So perhaps for today, moment by moment, we can accept the inconveniences that come our way, accept the challenges or struggles; learn the lessons the Lord may be teaching us through them, and remind ourselves of 2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬(NIV‬) where Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And join Paul in saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 

Now, I don’t know if this is what Oswald meant by this quote for the day, but I don’t want my life to be “idle ore”, rather I hope my life can be like iron, strengthened in faith by the trials of life, shaped and used by God, what about you?