Approaching Fire

I thought to share this brief message to not only encourage us to aim at drawing close to God but especially to let us know the requirements of that closeness.

 Do you remember that the strongest soldiers who were sent to throw the three Hebrews to the furnace were consumed by the fire that did not harm the youth?

And why? They were not prepared to handle the accelerated and amplified heat.

Do you realize that the Levites had conditions for entering the ministry? Yet what were they warned against? Defilement. In short the danger they were warned against was becoming unclean.

What about the priests?

‘Lest you die’, was the warning.

Why?

They would be approaching God’s ‘presence’.

And we have examples.

Aaron’s sons had been confirmed priests and had even served one week of their commissioning.

Then in their excitement and zeal make use of their new status to offer strange fire and God kills them immediately.

Uzzah is enjoying great worship escorting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem when the oxen stumble and he instinctively reaches out to steady the precious load and God also strikes him dead. And I hope you remember long before that when over fifty thousand died when they looked (probably came too close) at the ark when it came from the Philistines after they sent it back for wrecking havoc on their cities and gods.

What am I saying?

God’s presence is precious. But it is also dangerous if one is not ready for it.

The person who should come to that presence needs adequate preparation to handle the fire. Or don’t you know that our God is a consuming fire?

In short I am saying that before you take a spiritual responsibility it is essential to evaluate whether you have adequate skin to handle the fire the positions brings you to.

Though pastor and bishop are nice titles to be called, they are spiritual positions bringing the holder into the proximity of God. And that is whether they are qualified, called or not.

Know that that position you crave has a capacity of taking you so close to the fire before you are ready to handle it. And that fire has a capacity of destroying you in more ways than one.

Burnout, propensity to sin, curse on you and yours, broken and unworkable marriages and child raising, etc. are some of the fires that can destroy you.

No wonder warned against taking spiritual positions just because they offer themselves.

Listen to God very closely to know whether He has adequately prepared you to handle that fire contained in the responsibility (a title is worse) you are being offered.

Otherwise why did Joseph stay for thirteen years before seeing the fulfillment of the dream God gave him. Why did David stay for close to twenty years before taking the position he was anointed for? And why did Moses rot in the wilderness before taking the position God had set up for him before he was born?

Let God Himself tell you when you are ready. Then the fire will not consume you