June 29, 2025 -Dross

ISAIAH 1:21-5:30

Chronological Bible Readings

Isaiah 1:25 I will turn my hand against you;

    I will thoroughly purge away your dross

    and remove all your impurities.

What is the purpose of purging away the dross? It is to purify and strengthen the metal. When we are going through difficulties the refiner is allowing the dross to come to the top so that he can remove it so that we can become purer and stronger. It takes high levels of heat and time to separate the dross from the metal. The Israelites have put themselves in this impure situation where they needed to have their dross purged away. We can do that as well. When we live in sin and turn from God and repeatedly ignore His call back to Him the only way for that sin to be removed is for us to go through the refiner's fire. I think of people who talk about hitting rock bottom before they look up. Only the refiner knows how much heat is needed. He is the only one who can see when the dross is separating and knows exactly when and how to remove it from our lives.

This reminded me that I wrote about removing the dross from silver from Proverbs 25 in my old blog, so I went back to find it. It was way back in 2020. Which made me go back and see how long I have been doing this. I have been writing a daily bible reading blog since May 17th, 2020. It's been over 5 years. Oh, how time flies.

Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people will go into exile

    for lack of understanding;

those of high rank will die of hunger

    and the common people will be parched with thirst.

The process of removing dross is not a quick process it is done over time. A little bit at a time is removed. When the Israelites are taken into captivity over time they go through a suffering and pain. There are those in leadership who are dross and need to be removed and those who have been influenced by them who will suffer. All this suffering will lead the people back to God. Their suffering will bring the dross to the surface so that the refiner can purify the nation and strengthen them as they come under the authority of the refiner.

Isaiah 5:15 So people will be brought low

    and everyone humbled,

    the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

16 But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice,

   and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

When our impurities are brough to the surface it is a humbling experience. If you have ever gone through trials that resulted in you coming to be convicted of a sin in your life the only way to remove it is to humble yourself before the Lord and rely on Him to help you to walk in strength and purity. When the people are humbled and the Lord Almighty is exalted then God's holiness will be known.

If you are curious about the old blog here is a link. One of the features I like about the old blog is the search option so if you want to look up topics and scripture to see old posts it is pretty easy...July 13, 2020 – Ps 56, Pr 25, Gen 33 – Dive in Daily Devotees