A fresh, well-aged block of cheese tastes incredible. You probably never thought of this, but the process of turning milk into cheese—something that easily spoils into something that lasts—is a transformation The Courtyard Dairy calls “one of the brilliant achievements of humankind.” It says, “Technically, some cheeses could last forever.”

You could liken that transformation to God perfecting His character in us. He is seeking to turn us into “a product that lasts.”

This analogy is used in Scripture. While lamenting his heavy trial, Job questions the way God is working in his life. He is baffled, asking why God would turn against the work of His own hand (Job 10:3, 8-9).

Job then likens God to a cheesemaker. “Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?” (verse 10). God was working in Job’s life like a cheesemaker curdles cheese. The trial Job was going through was part of the curdling process.

A cheesemaker first heats the milk, then adds cultures and rennet, ingredients that start a chemical process that curdles the milk.

God draws us out of this world, gives us His Holy Spirit, and starts building His character. God gives us “power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12). We don’t have that power of ourselves, neither can we earn it. It is a gift.

After adding cultures and rennet, to create something solid and lasting, the cheesemaker must remove a byproduct called whey. As the milk settles into a more solid curd, he can cut it into small pieces or heat the curd to encourage separation from the watery whey. Then the cheese is pressed, squashing the particles together and squeezing out the last bit of whey.

As we have all experienced, it requires heat and pressure to remove the customs and traditions of this world from our lives. As God says, “[T]he world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17). This is what was happening with Job; God was perfecting him, removing “the pride of life” (verse 16) from Job’s heart so he could become a product that lasts.

None of us experiences the exact same process as Job, or as each other. There is also a variety of lasting roles God is preparing us for in His Kingdom. Similarly, there is not just one type of cheese, which also means there is much variation in the methods of making cheese.

The cheesemaker can do many things to determine the outcome of the cheese. He can choose what kind of milk to use, how much rennet to use, the speed of the set, and what kind of cultures to add to the cheese. He can choose how small he cuts the curd, how much to heat the curd, how much salt to add, how long to press it, and how long to let it mature. Even the order of some of the steps can be switched around to create a different cheese.

Similarly, God is creating a diverse family, an entire store full of different cheeses, so to speak. Is it any wonder that the process is not the same for any of us?

God chooses to work with each of us in a different way. He gives each of us a different set of talents and guides us through different trials and tests, as well as blessings.

We will all end up as different types of “cheese,” but one thing is true for all of us: God is turning us from a product that spoils quickly into a product that lasts.