“For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29
Three different times in the bible, it identifies God as a consuming fire. That caught my attention. Of course, we know that God is the giver of life…the God of increase…so how can that God be a consuming fire. Wouldn’t that be one of decrease?
Well, I began thinking of the times that our family and friends have spent around our fire pit. It is always very enjoyable. Usually, it is a fairly cool evening (sometimes plain cold) and we get our chairs and cozy up to the fire. The first few minutes are spent trying to find that “sweet spot” in relation to the fire. Not too close, yet not too far. Just that distance where you can feel comfortable and relaxed.
I remember years ago at one of Allyson’s birthday parties she invited a group of middle school girls. They were all enjoying themselves sitting around the fire in their “cute” outfits and talking about the things that middle school girls talk about. Many of them had found out that if they put their feet on the bricks that surrounded the fire, their feet would get really warm…so many of them did that. However, as the time passed they began to realize that their feet were moving past warmth and getting hot…. real hot. So, we broke out the flashlight to look at what was going on and found that their cute, rubber-soled shoes had completely melted. Yep, totally destroyed! Why? Because they got too close to the fire. That is what you call a consuming fire. It consumed the soles of their shoes.
So, when you talk about a consuming fire you are talking about a fire that burns stuff up. However, we see God rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego from the consuming fire that they were thrown into. In Hebrews 11:34 it tells us that by faith people “quenched the violence of fire.” So, we can understand that God does not want us to be destroyed or hurt from any fire. So, what does it mean that God is a consuming fire?
Let’s go back to our bonfire. Everyone knows that if you get too close to the fire it gets REAL uncomfortable, yet you want to get close enough to enjoy it. Everyone knows that if you stay close to the fire too long, it will start burning up your skin, your clothes, anything that is on you. Therefore, everyone knows if we stay at a comfortable distance, we can enjoy what is going on without a lot of change, just comfort…without anything being affected, but to just chill near the fire.
Beloved, the Lord began to show me that this is what He is talking to us about when He is identified as a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:1 tells us about the weights and things that so easily throw us off course…things that weigh us down and keep us from accomplishing what God has set us out to accomplish. Well, beloved, the closer we get to God…in relationship to Him…the more those things that don’t matter will get burned up and the more the things of God will rise in importance.
That is the reason that so many Christians stay at a comfortable distance and don’t get too close to God. They miss church often, even when they come they stay at a distance. They don’t participate in worship or even stay out of the sanctuary during worship. They don’t listen to the preaching of the Word or take frequent water breaks during the preaching of the Word. If they move in too close then those small weights that they have learned to enjoy may get burned up.
The Word of God is itself a fire. Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD… ” The Word of God drives out darkness, is a light unto our path, brings warmth, and spreads to those we come in contact with. Rick Renner says, “One of the clearest types of evidence that a believer is truly on fire for Jesus Christ is his or her undeniable and unquenchable appetite for the Bible.” When you are consumed by the Word, that is all you think about. You will make it a part of your daily routine and instead of setting limits on the speaker, you will beg for more.
That Word will clean you out and make you a new person and bring you from the impossible to the possible. In Luke 1:37 the angel tells Mary, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Nothing is a compound word in the Greek language: “no” means no and “thing” is the Greek Word Thema (the Word that is burning in you)…therefore, when the Word is burning inside of you, your life turns from the impossible to the possible!
Psalm 100:4 declares, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name.” When we praise the Lord, we are ushered into His courtrooms and into His presence! We also see in Revelation 21 that Jesus is the very light that illuminates heaven.
The Son is the sun of heaven! Of course, we know what the sun is made of… fire, a consuming fire!
So, when we enter into praise and worship we are getting really close to the fire…really close to the sun. That is where conviction takes place because those weighs start getting uncomfortable in His presence. We know the power of praise…we know the importance of worship, yet it can get uncomfortable when we move in too deep.
English theologian John Stott said this, “We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency, and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.” That is the truth with the Word and that is the truth with praise and worship…let them make us a little uncomfortable…let them burn up some things on our lives that we need taken off us…let them refine us into the image of God Almighty.
Yes, this goes for our daily lives…but let me encourage you the next time you are in church… press in! Turn your passivity into passion! Turn your comfortable distance into compassionate determination! Turn your avoidance of the consuming fire into an addiction for the Consuming Fire. Don’t let the enemy steal from you anymore. Stay on the edge of your seat ready for that one Word from God that will change you forever!
