How to pass God's test(s) - Psalm 15-17

In this section we have some very powerful phrases. One that is on the top of my list is found in 17:3 and reads as follows: "... You have tested me and You find nothing ... ". I placed a note along this phrase in my Bible that asks the obvious question: "Who can say that? Can I say that?" I wish! When God comes to test (and He will and He does and He is) what happens with us. In our minds we think the test is mulitple choice questions we can't answer or essay questions we can't compose. In reality the word means when God comes with fire to refine us. The word for "tested" here is a word for "smelting" or "refining." There are several verses in God's Word that speak in regard to God's testing us like silver or gold are tested (refined) - Job 23:10; Psalm 66:10; Zech. 13:9; 1 Peter 1:7. In each of these passages we are told that the test or refinining is for the purpose of producing what God is trying to produce in us: Shape us into His image. He created us in His image and than Adam's sin caused the image to become marred with sin. Through His Son He is refinning us into His image, which was the original purpose. To be in the position David finds himself (You tested me and you find nothing) you have to have a union, by grace through faith, with Christ. In that union our refining (testing) is still blazing hot but it is through the comfort of the Holy Spirit and through His guidance and perfecting work. It is through the shapping of the brotherhood of Christ that this testing takes on a "refining" process. God is producing gold and silver in us and with us. As we submit to His refining process we can then, and only then, say with David, you have found nothing. God tests us and finds nothing when He sees us through the Blood of Christ and in His Union. Allow the daily difficulties of life to refine you. It is a way for God to shape us to His image. It is His purpose for us.