Trial of Praise (by Karen Mielke)

When circumstances fail to progress as planned, a series of possible solutions come to mind in hopes that with some action, hopefully things will change. I need to pray harder, fast, read more scripture, get counsel from family and friends, do more charitable acts of kindness and finally promise God anything that will make Him fulfill all that I thought He said.

One of the most difficult things to do as a Christian is to believe that what God has said is true, even when everything looks as it isn't. The question asked of Eve in the garden still works today. "Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Did God really say the last thing you heard from Him? Have you seen any evidence? Do you have peace or still experience anxiety? When we search for Him or answers, God is faithful in providing a response, solution or direction for what is consuming our thoughts, time and energy. In exploring this whole concept, I found a verse that created more anxiety than peace.

Proverbs 27:21 in the Amplified version states, "As the refining pot for silver and the furnace for gold (bring forth all the impurities of the metal), so let a man be in his trial of praise (ridding it of all that is base or insincere) - for a man is judged by what he praises and of what he boasts."

The words, "trial of praise" perplexed me. I associate the word praise with God and now it is combined with the word "trial." Do I not praise enough? Is it incomplete? What do I need to change? Definitions of words can clarify their meaning and relieve guilt and frustration that we carry because we don't have the whole picture. Let's look more closely at the following words.

• Praise - to set a price on, appraise, to commend the worth on, express approval.

• Trial - the act or process of trying, testing or putting to the proof; implies the trying of a person or thing in order to establish his or its worth in actual performance

• Base - having or showing little or no honor, courage or decency, mean

• Insincere - deceitful, pretense, hypocrisy, dishonest

There is no hidden meaning to the word praise, but rather the object of it. To praise God is not even a thought to be debated. His worth is immeasurable. The issue is what we praise, such as our own worth, accomplishments, independence, freedom, social or economic status. At the end of the day, do we count the number of stars on our foreheads indicating our success, or do we thank God that He allowed us the opportunity to share Him with our portion of the world?

God loves us so much that He saved us, but doesn't leave us in the same place. He provides refining pots and furnaces not to melt or burn us, but to separate us from anything that has no honor, courage or decency, pretense, hypocrisy or dishonesty. The purifying process is not a form of punishment but rather love, grace and mercy to exchange our old ways of thinking and acting into conformity to Jesus. He transforms our "just-get-by" attitude into an abundant life full of Himself.