Strike When The Iron Is Hot - HEART TALK

This preacher does a lot of thinking. My wheels are always turning. I have had more nights when sleep eluded me for hours because my mind was churning than I can remember. I’m always thinking…even when I sit in church. I can’t help it. I’m a preacher and obsessed with wanting to hear from God, to have the Spirit reveal truth to me. Such is the case with this HEART BEAT.

You have probably heard this saying before, just as I have. I have the idea that this saying came out of a blacksmith’s shop. I have watched as red hot metal has come out of the fire and the blacksmith has taken his hammer and started the process of shaping the red hot iron into exactly what he needs to make. The iron must be red hot, making it malleable, submissive to the blacksmith’s hammer. The iron will go back in the fire several times before the process is complete. The ultimate result of this process will be what the blacksmith set out to create. It could be a shoe for a horse (or a mule) used on the farm. It could be a part for a piece of machinery. The list is long.

The lesson is that the iron, until it has been put in the fire, cannot be molded and shaped into the needed and useable product. No amount of beating on the iron will be effective until the iron has been prepared for the hammer by the furnace. Our life is like the piece of raw iron…hard and unyielding. The furnace (fire) represents life and the challenges that we, as Christians, are bound to face. The apostle Peter addresses the subject in 1 Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” In chapter 4 he speaks of the fiery trials of life once more – “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial (m. severe testing) which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (4:12).

One can only wonder what the iron (or any other metal requiring the softening process before it can be shaped) would say when thrust into the fire, placed in the vice, and then hammered on until the craftsman can create what he desires to create. The fire, the vice, and the hammer are vital to the craftsman being able to perform. So it is with our life. God, the craftsman, works to create in us the likeness of His Son. The fire, the vice, and the hammer are all vital to the process. We don’t like it, but this is the way it is if God is going to be able to bring us to “the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (m. mature) man, unto the measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). We do not like it, but the process is necessary if God is to create out of our fallen nature the vessel unto honor that He desires. Until we have been in the fire the dross will not be purged out. Until our stubborn will can be softened God’s hammer will not be able to effectively design that which will be pleasing to the Father. Therefore, let’s not fight the process. The finished product will be both beautiful and useful.

KNOW WHEN TO SET THE HOOK, OR WHEN TO DRAW IN THE NET

Any good fisherman will understand this statement. A good fisherman can tell what the fish is doing deep under water by “the feel”. He knows when the fish is just playing with the bait. He can tell when the fish is getting more serious about “taking the bait.” He knows when to “set the hook” and bring the fish to the boat where it can be “netted” and brought on board.

Knowing when to draw in the net is another term that is not familiar to what is known as “cane pole fishermen” or “rod and reel fishermen”. I have watched my brothers on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi toss the round net into the water. There is an art to it. I have tried it a number of times and simply have not caught on to how to effectively toss that net, getting it to open up in a near perfect circle. My brothers seem to know where to throw it.

It is exciting to watch that net settle down in the water, hopefully over a school of fish, and then to watch as Herschel and Chuck “work the net” allowing it to settle down and close at the bottom (around the fish) and then slowly work the net back to the boat. What a sight it is to behold fish thrashing around inside the net…caught because someone knew (1) how to cast the net, and (2) how and when to draw it in.

WHY IS THIS HEART TALK SO IMPORTANT?

It has been motivated because, once again, I have watched the Holy Spirit move in a service and the moment for striking the iron and drawing in the net was missed. RECOGNIZING THE MOMENT WHEN THE SPIRIT IS MOVING AND KNOWING WHAT HE WANTS TO DO IN A SERVICE…OR AN INDIVIDUAL’S LIFE…IS CRITICAL TO GOD BEING ABLE TO DO HIS WORK IN A LIFE, OR IN THE LIVES OF THOSE PRESENT IN A SERVICE. If I am grieved over these missed opportunities as I sit in church, waiting for the waters to be troubled, waiting for God to have the freedom to work HIS works of mercy, waiting for Jesus to be allowed to do what He does best…change lives, heal bodies and deliver His people, how much more is the heart of God and of Christ broken and grieved?

I have watched preachers totally miss it…talking on when it was time to shut up and call for a response. I have watched preachers totally miss it by singing on and on when it was time to call for a response. Sadly, too many just do not have the ability to discern when the iron is hot or the fish is ready to be caught. Being sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit should be at the top of every preacher’s list of what is most important in terms of his/her calling. I believe that many times just “getting on with the program” gets in the way of God being able to sovereignly invade a service. We tend to forget that it is HIS CHURCH and that we are to be nothing less than HIS BLACKSMITH…HIS FISHERMAN…eager to do His will, eager to rejoice in seeing the Spirit perfect that which God desires in terms of character development…eager to see the net drawn in with fish (souls) thrashing around in God’s net, caught by His love, ready to be saved by His grace.

Is this subject of value? It definitely is! Have I touched on a problem that needs to be solved? I have! Does this need to be fixed? Absolutely! Otherwise, why waste our time calling ourselves Christians…and especially those called of God to ministry? Why bother to open the church doors, turn on the lights, or heat and/or cool the building? Why bother? As preachers, our job is to always be sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. That means that we will discern exactly what God is desirous of doing in the lives of the people and we will tread softly, yet resolutely, in calling the people forward and allowing God to miraculously intervene in their life. The preacher is God’s blacksmith. The preacher is God’s fisherman. We are not showmen. We are not to be actors.

In closing, I can only wonder how wounded the Savior’s heart is when His preachers fail to discern the moment when the iron is ready to come out of the furnace to be molded and shapen? I wonder how many tears have splattered on the steps to His throne as He weeps over the “ones that got away”? And, I wonder how many souls have gone into eternity…lost…because the moment was missed through a lack of discernment or being bound by the “order of service”? May God help us! May God forgive us! God help us to understand that God has a purpose for our going to church and the preaching of the Gospel. Somehow, or so it seems to me – as I have done some deep thinking – that His disciples today, like the twelve Jesus had to deal with – JUST DON’T GET IT! And, look at the great loss. Now, it is your turn to do some thinking. Now, it is your turn to make some changes. Just musing, that’s all.

As a final thought, it occurs to me that many preachers simply do not walk in the Spirit to the degree that they can discern when it is God’s time to sovereignly move in meeting the needs of the people. One cannot give what one does not have. Still musing, that’s all. – Dr. Jerry A. Jones

New Gospel of Mark Commentary

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