From a chunk of rock comes a diamond

I’ve mixed thoughts about diamonds. My wedding ring is a wide band with a small stone, and all my husband could afford those thirty-six plus years ago. Sometimes he offers to buy me a new ring. I’m dazzled by the pictures in the flyers, but at the same time think of passages like 1 Peter 3 that put the value of such adornment below the value of fine character. Besides, I might be tempted to show off a bigger ring—I’m so vain and self-centered.

This morning in God is Enough I’m offered another slant on fine jewels. As the author describes how God refines us, I thought how precious stones, diamonds included, do not come out of the ground as glittering, beautiful jewels. They appear quite ordinary. Some require a keen eye to know that inside that plain looking rock is a rare and precious thing. The only way to bring out its beauty is to clear off the crud, then slice and polish it. If gems had feelings, I’m sure they would protest such harsh treatment.

This fits with yesterday’s thoughts about chastening. The process of refining is not punishment. Instead, God works on His people to purify us. He removes all dross and rubbish and brings out the full beauty and worth that maybe only He can see. This is a blessing, and as the devotional writer says, rather than being something God demands of us, it really is something we ought to demand of God.

It never occurred to me before now that as His child, I have a right to be made as pure as He can make me. As my Creator and Savior, it is His duty to burn up my dross and bring out my full beauty and worth. In other words, instead of concerns about wearing jewels, I’m supposed to be one.

In that light, Malachi 3:16-17 takes on greater significance. “A book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels.’”

Zechariah 9:16-17 adds more. “The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be!”

My reading has a quote from George Macdonald (without any other source given). These are powerful words about that desire I ought to have about being polished!

Man has a claim on God, a Divine claim for any pain, want, disappointment, or misery that will help to make him what he ought to be. He has a claim to be punished, and to be spared not one pang that may urge him toward repentance; he has a claim to be compelled to repent; to be hedged in on every side, to have one after another of the strong sheepdogs of the Great Shepherd sent after him, to thwart him in any desire, foil him in any plan, frustrate him of any hope, until he comes to see at length that nothing will ease his pain, nothing make life a thing worth having, but the presence of the living God; nothing noble enough for the desire of the heart of man but oneness with the eternal. For this God must make him yield his very being, that He himself may enter in and dwell with him.

No wonder that James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

I could paraphrase those verses: “Christians, be glad when troubles come for they are God’s tools to polish you and make you perfect, like a diamond, complete and without a flaw.”

The righteousness that God produces in me is precious. Instead of lamenting about the heat of the furnace that refines, I ought to be delighted that God is at work, rejoicing in Him for doing such a wonderful thing. In His hands, my life has far more potential than the rough looking rock I see in the mirror.

In Isaiah 61:10, the prophet eloquently describes the value of righteousness. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

My wedding ring symbolizes many things, but this morning God adds another way to look at it. The diamond may not be huge, but the perfection of the cut is His goal for me. This little stone experienced harsh treatment to bring out its value. When trials come, I can look at my third finger left hand and remember it is okay, because God is cutting and polishing me so I can be seen as one of His jewels.