The Piano“He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:3) In the 1993 Oscar-winning movie The Piano directed by Jane Campion, Holly Hunter is a woman who refuses to speak and is sent with her piano and her daughter to New Zealand for an arranged marriage. The best pianos in the world are made by Steinway, each piano is made from scratch, and it takes more than a year to make one. The soundboard is stretched to its maximum tolerance and allowed to sit for an extended period until it remains in the curved design. If the wood were alive, it would be begging for mercy and crying like Diana Ross, stop in the name of love. After an extended time of stretching, the wood will never spring back to its original state because it is permanently changed. And then it takes 11 tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. Each step in the process moves the piano closer to a fine-tuned instrument that will ultimately be played on the concert stage by the world’s finest musicians who desire a particular sound that only a piano of this caliber can make. Billy Joel may be the Piano Man and Adrian Brody may be The Pianist, but God looks at each of us as a finely-tuned instrument. We all begin as rough wood that He desires to transform into gold. Tuning us requires experiences that will stretch our faith, our frame, and our very life. Spiritual maturity and blessing springs out of tribulation and suffering. If we can stand the stress and strain of this painful process, we will come forth as silver and gold to our heavenly Maker. When we are in the midst of the trying times of sickness, poverty and oppression, it feels like chestnuts roasting on an open fire. It is painful to be stretched beyond our limits, but God sings Burn, Baby, Burn because He knows this is necessary for us to become an instrument that can play such beautiful songs that even Barry Manilow could not write. Don’t have it your way by going to Burger King but let God the master craftsman have it His way in our lives. When all is said and done, when we have been tested, tried, purified, purged, refined, and proven faithful, we will be pleased with the finished instrument that God fashions One Fine Day from the crucible of life because the only thing better than Steinway is God’s way.Copyright © 2003 Eddy Ministries. All rights reserved. Subscribe/Unsubscribe: eddyn@earthlink.net
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