Afflictions Made Beneficial in Purifying Us

It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.

I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.

And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.