God's Mowing Machine by Theodore Cuyler

I don't particularly like to post two Grace Gems right after each other.
But I have been busy working on a book review and haven't had time to work on another post. So here is another Grace Gem by Theodore Cuyler.
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Isaiah 48:10

"I have refined you in the furnace of affliction."

Some afflictions are sent by God--to purify character. God sits as a Refiner beside His furnace. He heats it until the metal melts--and the dross surfaces and is taken away. He keeps His silver in the furnace--until He can see His own face reflected in the clear metal of the heart. Then the affliction has done its work. There is such a wretched amount of self-will and pride and covetousness and unbelief even in the best of Christians--that they require the refining-furnace very often.

It is a wholesome process--to be "mowed down" occasionally. The grass in every lawn requires to be cut down by a mower. The oftener it is mowed--the richer and the thicker is the growth. The lawn never looks so beautiful, as after the sharp-edged mower has gone over it. I have observed that some Christians have never appeared so attractive in their humility and heavenly-mindedness, as when God's mowing-machine has been passed over them!