Hidden gold

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' (Zechariah 13:9).

Most of the volcanic activity had been small eruptions leaving an occasional dusting of ash on nearby cities in Colombia.  However, after an explosion in 1993, an interesting discovery was made inside Mount Galeras.

Dr. Fraser Goff, a geologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was sampling gas vents in a deep river canyon just west of the summit when a guide jokingly asked him, “Do you want to look at some gold?”  Dr. Goff picked up some rocks for sampling, and when he cut them into small slices he found they were full of gold.  This was the first time visible gold particles were found in an active volcano.

After studying this volcano for nearly a year, Dr. Goff observed that the mountain spews more than a pound of gold into the atmosphere each day, and each year it deposits 45 pounds of gold into the rocks lining the crater.  He estimated that there is a gold vein at the base of the volcano that is at least ten feet wide.  However, no one would have even known that the gold existed if it were not for the ultra high heat and pressure residing in the core of the volcano that pushed the gold to the surface.

The LORD our God wants us to shine like gold.  Sadly, there is more that is ash about us than any precious metal.  The Almighty has to work hard at bringing our good qualities to the surface where He can give them a proper shine.  So He applies heat and pressure.  He allows troubles to get in our way, troubles that seem insurmountable, troubles designed to make us cry, “Lord, help me!”  We are pretty full of ourselves, confident in our abilities individually and as a group.  We don’t pray to the Lord as often as we should when things are going well--when there is no real pressure on us and it is easy to keep our cool.  So God applies some heat and pressure, pressure that drives us closer to Him, heat that makes our faith come to the surface like gold that was formerly hidden beneath the ash of our sinful priorities.  When your life feels like a red-hot pressure cooker, remember the gold that was only revealed through volcanic eruption.  It may be that God isn’t seeing the gold in you, and is hard at work coaxing it to the surface!