Devouring Fire

Yesterday, I wrote about how God will shake things up, so that only unshakable things remain.  There is one additional verse that captured me in that passage from Hebrews:

"For our God is a devouring fire."

~Hebrews 12:29 (NLT)

It seemed like an odd statement in the context of God shaking things up.  I decided to look deeper.  It could mean the fire of purification - like in the refining of gold and silver.

"Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,

but the Lord tests the heart."

~Proverbs 17:3 (NLT)

"Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,

but a person is tested by being praised."

~Proverbs 27:21 (NLT)

Or, it could mean the fiery wrath of God, that conquered the sinful nations for his chosen people.

"But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will

cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them.

He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer and drive them out,

just as the Lord has promised."

~Deuteronomy 9:3 (NLT)

In any case, I have the image of a fire that devours and consumes all, leaving only the pure behind.   Just like he will shake things up, leaving behind only what is unshakable.

I pray that I have unshakable faith and a purity of heart that withstands God's fiery test.

A Work in Progress

In my "Today's Musing" post, I reflected on this Bible verse:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6 NLT)

This made me think of the constant work and refinement that goes into presenting a finished product to your professor or even your boss.  You begin with an outline or plan to get started, and then complete a draft.  You may present the draft to an editor for proofing, or if you have a teacher who wants to help you learn from your mistakes, you present the "work in progress" to your teacher.  She then takes a red pen and corrects the errors for you to finalize in your finished product.  How many of us really hated getting a paper back covered in red ink?  What we didn't know was that our teacher wanted us to go back, correct the errors and present the final paper error free.  We would be mortified to turn in a "work in progress" as final and complete to our boss.  

In this way, I feel like I am a constant "work in progress."  My life has been a series of mistakes and corrections made that continue to refine me.  I don't feel like I am ready to be presented as a finished work to my God, but this is my error.  It is not me that refines me.  God is at work correcting me, and refining me.  He makes me ready for the finished presentation to Him, when the Books are opened.  

"And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne.  And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.  And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." ~Revelation 20:12, 15 (NLT)