"Observations of one who has walked through the fire" Scripture
reading: Isaiah 43: 1-2 I would like to tell you a story
about a young man. He was raised in a Christian home all his life and there he
felt a real sense of comfort. Time moved on and one-day it was time for him to
go off to college. He loaded up all his worldly belongings and headed off to
his college town. He got settled in that Sunday night
and unloaded everything from his 1969 Ford Mustang into the little two-room
cabin. The Mustang was in mint condition and as you might expect for a
nineteen-year-old, it was more than just a form of transportation, it was an
extension of his worth and personality. It was January the 7th
and a cold front had come through this sleepy little southern town and the
temperature dropped down into the teens. The landlord had explained that the
gas heater worked but the propane tank needed refilling. So the only means of
heating the cabin would come from an electric coil heater in the bathroom next
to the bedroom. With two or three blankets piled
high and the coil heater turned up high, the young man climbed into his single
bed and went to sleep. As you might expect being away from home for the first
time and sleeping in a strange place by himself, he didn't simply drift off to
sleep. He stayed awake for hours thinking about home, wondering if this is
really where he wanted to be. As the night wore on he finally fell asleep. Early the next morning the
temperature was so cold it had caused the young man to pull the covers over his
head. As the young man drifted in and out of sleep he began to detect a strange
smell in the room. He thought at first it was part of his dream and tried to
ignore it. After a while he realized the odor was definitely real and he needed
to get up and check on it. He made his way over to the bedroom
door and when he opened the door, the den was full of propane gas. The room was
so full of gas it hurt his eyes and his nose stung from breathing it. He heard
a hissing sound coming from the gas heater so he made his way across the room
to examine it. The knob was in the off position but it was still making a sound
like gas was leaking from somewhere. He turned the knob on and off, on and off
but it didn't stop the leaking. An unpleasant thought occurred to
the young man--that the coil heater in the bathroom could ignite the gas. So
the young man started for the bathroom. He made it to the bedroom door when to
his right he heard the gas ignite. He fell to the floor as he saw the flames rolling
his way. The flames were at head level and moving rapidly towards him. Just as
he hit the floor the flames moved to the den where the highest concentration of
gas was and a huge explosion occurred. The explosion caused the front door to be blown off
the hinges and across the driveway and landed on the white picket fence of the
neighbors, thus catching it on fire. The AC unit in the window was blown out of
the window. And when the young man got up off the floor and looked around he
saw the den was completely on fire. The walls were a blaze, the sofa was on
fire, the floor was on fire, everything was ablaze. The young man ran through the den
and out the door opening in nothing but his fruit-of-the-looms. As his reached
the safety of the gravel driveway he looked back and the cabin was completely
engulfed in flames. Not only the cabin but also his prized Mustang's vinyl top
and Goodyear raised white letter tires were ignited by the heat. He started walking to house next
door and as he approached the house he saw his neighbor was cranking his car
trying to get it warmed up. As the neighbor was getting out of his car, the
young man startled him, standing there in nothing but his underwear, he asked
if he could use his phone to call the fire department. The older gentleman
nervously said yes and asked him to come on inside. While the young man called the fire
department the older gentleman went to get some pants for the young man to put
on. He came back with some red, doubleknit pants (high waters) that were too
small to zip or button. So as the young man stood there in that kitchen looking
out the window, he called his Dad. And at approximately 6:30 AM his Dad picked
up the phone and the young man's first words were "Dad, I'm lucky to be
alive." For
those of you who have never heard this story, that young man was me. And
everything you heard happened on January the 7th 1981, 21 years ago. And
I would like to share with you are some: " Observations of
one who has walked through the fire" Observations: 1.
Your
experience may go unnoticed by those around you, but God will be there. My neighbor was oblivious to the explosion
and inferno, taking place just a few yards from his back door, but God was
there.
(Isaiah
50:4) The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to
know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. I believe it was God who
awakened me that morning. I could have very easily died from breathing the gas.
2.
You
do some things you wouldn't normally do, such as run outside in the freezing
cold with nothing but your underwear on. You know it can be a humbling
experience to walk up to a stranger in your underwear and ask a favor. Your response might be
different: ·
You
might call for help ·
Seek
counseling ·
Run
far away ·
Or
fall on your knees and humbly pray There's no telling what you
might do in the fire of God's testing.
I Peter 5: 6-10 "Humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your
anxieties on him, for he cares about you. Be sober, be watchful. Your
adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to
devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of
suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after
you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you
to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and
strengthen you. 3.
Your fire experience may come at an inconvenient time. Unfortunately God
doesn't check with us to see if we can work him into our calendar. But if you
think about it, there is never a bad time to get right with God. 4.
Your
fire experience will cause you to reflect on life. How short it can seem and
how quickly it can end. You will
reflect on God's plan for you, your purpose and God's word. I began reading
God's word on a more regular basis following my fire experience. 5.
A
fire experience may be part of God's refining process in your life shaping you
and molding you, or preparing you for something further down the road. Don't question God but rather learn from the
experience.
(Isaiah 45:9-17) v9 “Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you
making?" Flame Test: Some minerals produce characteristic colors of flame
or residue when they burn. The flame test identifies these minerals. For
example, when a small sample of table salt is held in a flame, the flame
becomes yellow. The yellow color is due to the presence of sodium in table salt
(sodium chloride). Potassium produces a violet flame, and calcium gives an
orange-red flame. When you are held in the flame of Gods testing, what
type flame due you produce? Do you produce a flame of faith, patience,
humility, or obedience? Or is you flame residue characterized by self-reliance,
worldly remedies, anger, or shifting blame. A pure element (such as gold or silver) contains only atoms of gold or silver. While our bodies are made of molecules, not atoms, God does desire purity of heart. It is the nature of gold that it does not mix easily with anything else. Silver also in its pure form contains only atoms of silver. And, as the Bible teaches, when copper or some other element is mixed with gold or silver, fire can burn the foreign stuff out and leave the gold or silver pure. In Matthew 3:11-12, John the Baptist says that Jesus will baptize
with the Holy Spirit "and with fire." So to embrace Jesus is to
embrace the Spirit's "fire" which God uses to burn sin from our lives
and purify us. The Holy Spirit has convicted me time and time again of
impurities in my life. Though my natural tendency is to resist the hot fire,
afterwards I am always thanking God for having drawn me closer to him. God will not tolerate other
gods, or unChristlike attitudes in your life or mine. You and I can’t purify ourselves; we must surrender to the
purifying fire of the Refiner. Purity, of course, is never an achievement, but a
gift of grace to those who admit their need
of the Refiner's fire. Is God testing you? This refining process you are
going through may be needed to burn off those impurities or other gods.
Zechariah
13:9 I
will bring the third that remain through the fire and make them pure, as
gold and silver are refined and purified by fire. God is a jealous God. He doesn’t like to be part of a mixture. He desires purity. Read from the Living Bible: Exodus 20:5I Peter 1:6-7Psalms 66:8-10 Summarizes
main points: ·
God
tests us to see the condition of our heart and going through these test, trials, or fires, the
impurities are burned off, and we are made pure for his glory. ·
As
a man disciplines his son, so the Lord disciplines His children. You are
precious and honored in God's sight and he loves you. ·
God
is the potter, we are but the clay. We shouldn't question the process, but be
thankful he is molding us and giving us the faith to trust Him. ·
And
though no one else may seem to notice your going through the fire, take comfort
in knowing that God will, as it says in
I Peter 5:10 " will himself restore, establish, and
strengthen you." Tim Albritton, March 13,
2002 |