Through the Fire

"Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water."

Numbers 31:21-23

When the children of Israel took spoils of war from their defeated enemies, purification was required under the Law.  The principle was anything which could survive the fire which was taken needed to be put through fire so it could be purified.  The water of purification would also be sprinkled upon it, the water which had the ashes of the red heifer in it (explained in detail in Numbers 19).  This water was required to be cleansed after touching a dead body.  If a person was not cleansed according to the Law he would be cut off from the congregation as a consequence.

This passage lends insight for what is written to Christians cleansed with the blood of Jesus in 1 Peter 4:12-13:  "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."  Every person saved through the Gospel has been plundered from Satan's grasp and control.  To God who loves us we are of infinitely greater value than gold, silver, or bronze.  Because we can endure the fiery trials God allows us to face them.  Peter urged his readers not to think it strange they would be tried or tested by difficult trials.  Our souls are purified by faith in Jesus, but God uses fiery trials to refine our character and strengthen our faith.

In fiery trials for Christ's sake we are able to rejoice as partakers of His sufferings.  There is a depth of fellowship experienced with Jesus only realised through suffering.  No one wants to suffer, but the Bible makes it clear every Christian will certainly experience suffering in this life.  Praise God for all suffering He allows He also provides abundant consolation.  As it is written in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 by a Christian intimately acquainted with suffering for Christ's sake, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ."  In this world we will experience tribulation, but in all tribulation God has provided comfort received when we wait on the LORD in faith.

Are you experiencing a fiery trial today?  Take heart believer:  if you are being put through the fire God will without fail bring you safely through it.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego experienced the presence of God in the midst of the fiery furnace which killed their oppressors and were divinely enabled to emerge safely without a hair being singed.  Even if the flames are permitted to consume our flesh, God will keep our souls safe and present us before His presence with exceeding joy for eternity!

God Knows!

Humans have a way of bringing God down to our level.  Because we have brains which reason and think we figure it is sensible for other people to see things the way we do.  We also do this with God.  Though we have been created by God in His image, God is not comparable to us.  His wisdom, strength, justice, and love are infinite.  We are ever learning but He is the unchanging truth.  Every new scientific or medical discovery no one on the planet had previously known God already knew and designed it to be so.  We learn by trial and error but God does not make mistakes.

God spoke through the prophet in Isaiah 40:25-26, "To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing."  God spread out the heavens as easily as we pull back a curtain or pitch a tent.  He knows the number of planets and stars in the universe and calls them all be name.  Most people know we have 9 planets in our solar system, but did you realise there is estimated to be 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone?  It is estimated there are 150 to 250 billion stars in just our galaxy as well!  There are about 5,000 stars observable with the naked eye, but God knew about those billions of stars and planets people in Isaiah's day had no idea about - and I have no knowledge of!  The knowledge of God is beyond compare.

In light of God's power, wisdom, and knowledge, He asked in Isaiah 40:27, "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God"?  If God knows so much about the heavens, doesn't He have complete knowledge of your current situation?  God's people figured He had forgotten about them or was in the dark concerning their suffering and present needs, but God doesn't need reminding.  He is only light and in Him is no darkness.  God did not go to school to learn law for He established all the natural laws which govern the universe discovered through physics, biology, mathematics, astronomy, and all other sciences.  Nothing which happens to us escapes God, and His love for us never wavers.  Praise the LORD He does not need reminders but we are invited to come into His throne room of grace at any time to find help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

If we believe God knows and loves us, we will boldly approach him in prayer at our time of need.  At times we have not because we ask not.  Choosing to pray instead of exercising other options shows we do trust God and provides opportunity for Him to help us in ways no one else can.  When you look up at the stars, it is likely you know very little about them.  They are far away from us, but God is near all who cry out to Him.  There may be billions of people on the earth today but the nations are as a drop in the bucket compared to what God knows.  Praise God that every person on this planet is deeply loved by God, and He is able to redeem and save those who trust in Him.

Are You A Keeper?

I was impacted by an interaction recorded in the book Same Kind of Different As Me to illustrate friendship.  A man named Denver made the observation how some fishermen practice "catch and release."  They are into fishing for sport.  After catching, weighing, or taking a photo, the fish is released.  Denver had no interest in catching a fish only to release it.  Catching a whopper brought the town together to celebrate the catch and share a delicious meal.  The point driven home to me is friendship is for keeps.  If you genuinely love someone, you won't let them go.  You will always hold a friend close in your heart even if time or distance separates.

Matt Redman wrote a song titled "You Never Let Go" which enforces how God treats us all like "keepers" though we have never measured up.  As sinners we have fallen dreadfully short of His righteous standards, yet out of His love for us God embraces and adopts us as His own through the Gospel.  This divine acceptance is all of grace, and it is received when we repent and place our faith in Jesus Christ as LORD.  Jesus called His disciples friends, and all who will be His friends will keep His commands.

The chorus of Redman's song says, "Oh no, You never let go through the calm and through the storm...in every high and every low. Oh no, You never let go Lord. You never let go of me."  Our grip on God grows weak and weary as we are beset by anxieties and cares.  No matter the trial or trouble God keeps us close, and no one is able to snatch us out of God's hand.  I am in wonder of the grace of God that when we were in complete rebellion against God He pursued us and bid us draw near to Him in faith.  It is one thing to gather your little own ones in your arms, but another thing to reach out to stubborn rebels.  Push Him away, try to silence Him if you want, but as long as we live on this earth He will not stop seeking us out and calling our names.  We cannot drown out the voice of truth or comfortably numb our conscience from the Saviour who will have us for His eternal inheritance.

Fall on your face in worship, man!  David's musings echo in my soul of the excellence of the LORD in Psalm 8:3-4:  "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, ⁴ what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"  Dust we are and to dust we will return, yet the love and life given through Christ endures forever.  1 Peter 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵ who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."  All who will submit to being caught by the Gospel God deems a keeper.

God doesn't do "catch and release" when we fail.  He's a God who keeps His redeemed by His power through faith for eternal salvation.  Repentance leads to restoration of fellowship with God by His grace.  God loves and never lets go.  Should you choose to go your own way, don't be surprised when He hunts you down and speaks kindly to you.  What grace!

Identifying with Christ

Jesus came to save sinners.  Once we are freed from the power and penalty of sin, the Holy Spirit provides all we need to know and do God's will.  Living in these bodies of flesh makes it a real challenge to walk uprightly.  I am a sinner and need a Saviour, and if I have truly repented I ought not consciously sin any more.  Paul asked rhetorical questions which have obvious answers in Romans 6:1-2:  "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?"

When we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made new.  Our bodies stay the same, but our eternal souls have been raised to new life.  We ought to make a clean break between who we were and who we are by God's grace because we now know God and find our identity in Him.  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

God is able to take a thief and transform him into a man whose honesty is a reflection of His own.  He takes a fornicator burning with lust and gives him power and discipline to walk in purity.  God takes sexually immoral people and cleanses them, causing their hearts to desire to please God over self.  Drunks and extortioners and liars need not be resigned to the chains which bound them to sin and ruled their lives, for now Jesus has become their LORD and Saviour.  Having been washed of the stains of sin, our previous way of living is to be relegated to a previous life which was drowning in perdition and sinking towards eternal destruction.

Praise the LORD He is able to change us completely so we can be as God intended us to be.  The world tries many means to squish us into its mould, but no worldly mould is suitable for a child of God.  Let us reckon the old man dead and sin also dead to us.  We will not entertain or make room for it any more because now we know it leads to death.  We will not justify sin in denial of God's Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Sin slyly dolls itself up like Jezebel with her tiered head and painted face to look attractive, but let's not be fooled.  To sleep with her is to court death.  Since we love our Saviour Jesus, we will obey Him at any cost.  Jesus has paid the price for our atonement and salvation, and He also empowers us to pay the price He is worthy of daily.