Ping ping ping ping THUD.  Over and over the hammer falls, hits its mark, and a sound is heard.  The sound that is heard depends much on what material the hammer is hitting.  Have you ever built anything and listened to the hammer as it hits the nail, then misses?  What sound is heard when the hammer suddenly misses it mark?  Most often a thud is heard, usually because a hammer is used to hit nails into wood.  Now if you happen to hit your thumb, that ensues quite a different response.  If you are hammering a nail into a wall to hang something, you might even hear a slightly hollow sound as the hammer makes a hole in the wall as it sinks into the surface when it hits.  If you take a hammer and pound on brick or stone and you will hear a chip chip chipping sound as pieces come off with each point of contact.

As the hammer does the job it is meant to do-hitting things-it always makes some kind of noise.  It doesn’t do its job silently because it always has a point of contact, that moment when the hammer comes into contact with the object we swing it at.  A hammer cannot do its job when there is no sound because that would mean it made no contact with its intended target.  God uses hammers to mold us: His word and His will.  If we are expecting to have those do their job without having some noise in our life then we are fooling ourselves, because a hammer cannot do its job without some noise.  If Gods hammers are making contact in our lives there is going to be some noise, because that is what happens when a hammer makes contact with its intended target!

Now a physical hammer may go ping, or even thud, when it hits its target, but what kind of noise will God’s hammers make?  First we must look at what God is using His hammers to do.  God intends to mold us into who He desires us to be, transforming us into a new creation intended for His glory.  (Eph 4:22-24 , 2 Cor 3:17-18 )  For this process to take place He must remove the things that are not like Him, and replace them with the things that are like Him.  1 Peter 2:9 tells us "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  We are called out  darkness!  Verse 1-3 says "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."So what is that hammer being used for?  To replace our nature with the things of the spirit.  Looking at this we can only do that if crave spiritual milk-if we seek God, if we are craving spiritual milk we are allowing Him to mold us, to use His hammer to shape us.

So what does Gods hammer sound like?  That depend on us really.  If we are avoiding the hammer, God is still going to use His will and His Word as His tools, however the noise it makes in our lives is going to be much different then that of a hammer hitting its mark!  Think of not only the sound of an actual hammer missing its mark, but the feeling made in your body- rhythmic when it hits its mark, but when missing the mark the vibration of the hammer feels completely different, even hard, harsh or painful.  When we are avoiding God’s hammer that is what happens in our lives.  The molding process still occurs, but it will begin to feel harsh, hard, or even painful.

If you are hard, like a piece of wood, then you are going to hear and feel a hard thud in your life.  The molding process is going to feel like a constant pushing, banging, and pounding.  This is when you need to allow God to soften you through time in prayer asking Him to help you realize His will for your life.  If you are empty you are going to hear and feel a hollow sound.  The molding process may seem useless, like it is taking you nowhere because you do not understand the hope of His calling.  This is when you need to pour your time into Gods word allowing it to fill your mind and soul with His promises.  If the molding process hurts like the hammer hitting your thumb, that is when it is time to remember Gods promises by reading them, and by going to Him asking Him to be your strength, shelter, comfort, and healer.  As the molding process goes on in our lives we will feel a chip chip chipping away in our lives, at the same time those things will be replaced with the things God desires us to become, and He will complete the process to the end.

God is going to mold us, change us, and make us new, what that sounds like in our lives will depend on how we respond to the hammer.  Ask yourself what sounds you are hearing in your life through the molding process.  Does what God is doing sound like a thud,  does it sound hallow, feel painful?  If you are avoiding the hammer in any way,  go to God and ask Him to help you change the sound it is making in your life so that the molding process can become one of joy.  That is the sound God wants the molding process to make in our lives, the sound of joy! For there is no better model for our molding process than Christ!  Being molded by God’s hammer can be a joyful process if we are not avoiding it and we allow God to do what He desires in our life.

For us "When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left." (Luke 23:33 )  Next "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."" (Luke 23:34 )  Those around despised him "The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." There was a written notice above him, which read:|sc THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." (Luke 23:35-38 )  Except for one man, who realized what was happening, one of the thieves next to him being crucified for his crimes.  "Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:42-43 )

For us Jesus Died.  "It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:44-46 )  He was dead.  The sinless Lord had taken on the sins of all of us and died on a cross like a common thief.  For us he was buried, "Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid." (Luke 23:52-53 )

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus" (Luke 24:1-3 )  Where has he gone, what has happened?  He has already done so much for us-it cannot have ended like this-with him being gone!  Now two messengers appear "suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground" (Luke 24:4 ) and they deliver the best words we could hear:

""Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" (Luke 24:5-6 )

For us He was crucified buried and rose again.  For us.  On that day when He rose and defeated death he gave us the ability to do the same by spending eternity with Him.  That is the purpose of why He did this for us.  Eternity with Him is the outcome of what He did in those days.  And all of it was done for us because of grace and mercy out of a Love we can not comprehend.  To not recognize that God wants a relationship with us when He did this for us is simply denying the obvious.  If you have never cried out to God, like the thief on the cross recognizing who Christ was, and believed that Christ did this for you don’t deny the obvious any longer.  He did this for you.

If you need to do this the first step is admitting to yourself that you are a sinner and that trusting in yourself or anything you can do is not sufficient.   Then you need to trust in Christ and what He did do on the cross when He died for your sins.  To affirm your decision say this prayer “Lord I know that I am a sinner incapable of doing anything that would allow me into heaven on my own.  I believe that Jesus died on the cross, and that His death paid for my sins.  Thank you for giving me a way.  Amen.”

Praise-The act of giving God thanks and worship for who He is and what He has done and will do.  When we personally Praise God we recognize who He is and what He is doing in our lives and will do in our lives because we know we can rely on His promises.  We have already seen many of those promises fulfilled, and we know they are currently being fulfilled in our lives.  Ephesians 1 reveals to us that Gods plan has been laid out in such a way as to bring Him Praise.  In this we can have confidence-that no matter what we are experiencing it is going to bring Him praise because that is the ultimate plan.

Lets look specifically at verses 11-12  "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory." (Eph 1:11-12 ) We were chosen!  God knew what you-in your free will-would choose to do with the gospel of Christ.  This choice and us are, as it states in verse 12 "for the praise of His glory".  The very act of you choosing to trust Christ glorifies Him!  So you have already praised God with your life.

Then when we look at verses 13-14 we see the fulfillment of promises that glorify God.  "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." (Eph 1:13-14 )  So we see here the fulfillment of the promise.  When we hear the truth and believe we receive a seal-the Holy spirit.  The Holy spirit guarantees our inheritance.  That inheritance is our eternal life with Christ-the fulfillment of the promise.  This is all to the praise of his glory.  The very plan of redemption has all been put into place in order that the Lord would receive Praise.

If we know that we are marked with the seal, the Holy spirit, and have been promised eternal life with Chirst that comes with that seal, shouldn’t that be reason enough to praise God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do in our lives!  No matter what our circumstance now-we know that it is all to the praise of His Glory because that is the ultimate plan.