Fire is an attractive and intriguing thing. Watching flames dance over hot coals can be almost hypnotic. It’s heat, and light, and power draw us in and captivate us. But left unchecked, a fire can grow into a raging inferno. Everything around it is affected. It consumes everything in its path. The smoke from it chokes you and makes it impossible to breathe or see. The flames burn you and cause immeasurable pain. Sadly, sometimes, we don’t recognize the danger we’re in until it’s too late. Then all that’s left is the charred remains and ashes of what used to be.
Our only hope is that when the fire rages, and the smoke blinds us, there will be someone to pull us out, a hand reaching out through the darkness, and heat, and the chaos of it all. A voice telling us, “Take my hand, follow me, I know the way out.” In the midst of it, we tend to think we’re still in control, or that we have an escape plan. Sometimes we get so used to the smoke, and heat and noise of it all, we don’t recognize the danger we’re in. But, inevitably, at some point, the smoke gets us. The pain hits. We begin to recognize; we’re in serious trouble. It overwhelms us.
Where will be when the pain comes? When the smoke begins to choke you and blinds you, and you can’t find your way out? Will you listen to that voice? Will you trust and grab that hand reaching through the flames? Or will you give in to the fire?
In John, chapter 8, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman in front of Jesus. She had been caught in the act of adultery. There’s a lot going on here, but I want you to focus, just on the woman in this passage. She has been taken, forcefully, probably completely naked, out into the streets. She most undoubtedly knows the law and the penalty for what she’s done. She knows that she is about to die. You have to wonder, did she have a moment where she asked herself, “How did I get here?” And as she’s lying naked in the dirt, watching them pick up large rocks to pummel her to death and listening to the conversation about her, something happens. She hears the rocks hitting the ground. She hears that gentle voice…
- 10: …”Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
- 11:She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
Grace……
Mercy….
A hand reaching through the fire. Pulling her out of the flames. There is story after story in the new testament of Jesus extending his hand, giving grace to those searching for a way out of their chaos, out of their sin, out of their pain. There is another story, in the old testament. It’s a story of three young men. The king, Nebuchadnezzar, was filled with wrath because these young men refused to worship anyone or anything but the Most High God. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than normal. He ordered his toughest soldiers to bind them up and throw them in. It was so hot that the warriors were consumed by the fire. But, something awesome happens. It’s so awesome, that even the king is astounded.
Daniel 3
v.24: …”Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?’
v.25: He said, “Look, I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the fourth is like the son of the gods!”
There was another in the fire. Jesus was in the fire, extending grace. I can imagine him saying to them, “Don’t be afraid, I’m right here with you.”
So, I’ll ask the question again. Where will you be when the pain comes? Will you just accept your fate? Or will you take that hand? When the sorrow of loss, or the fear and pain of sickness and disease stifle you, will you listen to that voice? Will you look to the one who saves you from it all? There’s another in the fire. He’s in it with you. Take His hand. Let Him lead the way.
