Fear Of Fire

When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 Chronicles 7:1

When I was a girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old, the house behind ours caught fire in the middle of the night. Our whole family got out of bed and watched it from our sliding glass door. We knew the neighbors were safe, but I still cried because I was afraid the fire would spread to our house. My dad held me on his lap and reassured me that the firemen were handling it and that it wouldn’t spread to us. But after that I was afraid of fire for a long time. I had a hard time learning to strike a match when I got a little older. Fire certainly can be a scary thing.

It was scary….

…when Lot and a few of his family members fled Sodom just before fire and brimstone began to fall from the sky (Genesis 19).

…when the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai in fire in Exodus 19 (see v. 18).

…when Nebuchadnezzar had three young Jewish men thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to participate in idolatry (Daniel 3).

The Hebrew writer reminds us that even though we “have not come to [Mount Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire,” our God is still “a consuming fire,” (Hebrews 12:18,29).

But fire is also useful of course.

It’s used for cooking and for warmth even in the Bible (e.g. Mark 14:54). God appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire but didn’t burn up (Exodus 3). And God provided light through a pillar of fire to guide the Israelites through the wilderness by night (Exodus 13:21-22).

Fire was also needed for the animal sacrifices. The offerings had to be lit, burned, and consumed, either by the priests as their portion of food, or by the fire itself. (See Leviticus 7, for example.)

That’s the way our service to God has to be. We lay our money, our time, our energy, our desire to control, even our pride on the altar to be sacrificed. And if we really give it to God, it will be consumed. It will be gone, given away, not available for our use any longer but rather used up in God’s service.

Sometimes I fear that fire too. I want to give, but I don’t want my sacrifice to be completely consumed. I want to hold on to a little bit for myself.

Another thing fire is used for is refining. Also scary!

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

What does Peter say tests the genuineness of our faith? Fire, that is, trials.

God, can’t you just take my word for it when I tell you that my faith in You is genuine?

Perhaps just asking that question betrays a weak faith. In this moment, do I tell God to bring on the trials if that’s what it takes? Do I remember that Jesus suffered and sacrificed everything for me?

Furthermore “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Jesus said that unprofitable servants will one day be sent to “the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” (Matthew 25:30,41). That is the fire we should fear.

That night when our neighbors’ house burned down, my Dad held me on his lap and told me not to be afraid. When I fear the fiery trials of persecution, sacrifice, and suffering, I need to remember all the times God the Father says in His word, “Do not fear.” Even if I have to sacrifice my very life for God, that affliction is temporary. What matters is that the eternal flames have no power over me. My Father keeps me safe.

Dear God, You didn’t withhold Your only begotten Son when I needed a savior, but so often I hold back in my service to You. Please show me where I need to surrender more completely, and help me not to be afraid, but to trust in You to provide everything I need. Thank you for being the perfect Father. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins