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A story is told that may help to illustrate this grand principle.  A group of women in a Sunday school class came to a study of Malachi 3:3.  The verse reads, “He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.”  One of the ladies took it upon herself to seek a fuller understanding of this verse by actually going to a silversmith.  When she entered his shop, she found him sitting before a large crucible and looking at the liquid metal intensely. In fact, he did not even look up to acknowledge her presence in the room.

She finally spoke and asked him, “Do you have to sit there constantly while the refining of the silver is going on?”  “Yes,” he answered, “I must keep my eye on the crucible at every instant. If it gets too hot, the silver will be damaged.”

“Surely,” the woman thought to herself, “I know the meaning of the passage now.  God allows us to experience the crucible of suffering, but he watches to see that it never gets hot enough to destroy us.  We experience pain in this life, but it serves to purify rather than destroy:”  But the greatest insight into the verse was still to come.

Since she had achieved her purpose and since the silversmith was so busy with his work, she turned to leave the shop.  It was just at that instant that the silversmith spoke one more time.  He said, “I know the process of purifying is completed when I can see my own image reflected in the silver.”

Gospel Advocate, July 1, 1982, page 394