The FireSample

The Fire 

Can we live without fire? Not on this earth. Primitive people believed that fire was a gift from the gods, and we can certainly appreciate that. God prepared this world as a place where people could live, and fire is as essential as water or air. Without essential warmth half the population would freeze to death. Without fire there would be no sunlight, no cooking, no metals, indeed no manufacturing; we would never have seen a steam train or steam ship. We could not imagine a more terrible world. No one would want to live on a planet like that and, in fact, no one could.

The universe is full of fire. The sun is a great globe of incandescence, every star shines by its own fire, and even the center of our planet is fire; a molten core of metal. Every volcano is a powerful illustration of God's character. He is a Vesuvius of goodness, life and energy.

If we can no longer see the light of the stars, it is because of modern pollution in the atmosphere. That is the price we pay in our great cities; lots of lamps but no stars. These days the wise men would be hard put to find a star to guide them to Bethlehem. Yet that is a modern-day parable. People are not finding their way to Jesus because of pollution. We are too clever by half. No one can see God through a polluting cloud of doubt and sin. Nonetheless, he is still there, shining forever.

Elijah dealt with the prophets and Baal and Asherath and stated, "the god who answers with fire, He is God" (1 Kings 18:24).  Isaiah depicts the god of consuming fire (Isaiah 33:14).  There is something about fire that God wants to show us and it is part of His goodness and kindness towards us. In the next few days, we will study the story of three young Hebrew men who experienced a fiery furnace and were able to glorify God in the midst of it.

Reflection: When you think about God and fire, do you think of an angry god or a God that is willing to provide us with His love, goodness and kindness through the fire?