Cruel tools

(A. W. Tozer)

"I have refined you in the furnace of suffering."
     Isaiah 48:10

A sculptor does not use a 'manicure set' to reduce
the crude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty.
The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel
tools, but without them the rough stone must
remain forever formless and unbeautiful.

To do His supreme work of grace within you, God
will take from your heart everything you love most.
Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of
ashes will lie where your most precious treasures
used to be!

"I have refined you in the furnace of suffering."
     Isaiah 48:10