Fire and water

Fire and water

"Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead and anything else that can survive fire--must be passed through the fire; then it will be ritually purified. It must also be ritually washed in the Water-of-Cleansing. Further, whatever cannot survive fire must be put through that water." (Num.31.22- 23)

How do we summarise the pains we go through in life? What price would you attach to them, if they were to be put in monetary value? Fire and water are to incompatible elements, they seem to be antitethetical. They don't mix well but they both play a major role in life, just as much as in the life the believer. 

We see in our text that everything that was of value was to be put through the testing of the fire - gold, silver, iron, tin, lead and anything else that can survive fire--must be passed through the fire. 

Why must it pass through fire? So that fire can burn-off any impurities but more so, that fire may reveal it's truest worth. Same way God allows us to go through the fires of life so that our real identities are revealed. Fire may speak to the toughness of life. And if you notice, all the elements that were described that will go through the fire were hard. 

It was the Psalmist that posited that God lets men ride over our heads - can you imagine that? He says we went through the fire but then He brought us to a place of abundance. 

"You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. (Ps.66.12 NIV)

It was only after the going through that God brings us to. Whatever you are going through right has the potential of bring you to a scheduled destination. 

But it is not only fire. The two witnesses have testified to both fire and water. Whatever cannot handles fire would have to go through water. Our text talks about the water-of-cleansing. Paul the Apostle, illustrates this for us in Eph.5.26

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" (Eph.5.26 KJV)

The water of the word refines our character. You may either go through fire or the cleansing effect of the water of the word. 

Happy New Month 

Good day,
Have a great day today,
Dr. Emmanuel Okoro,
(aka Dr. Lift)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Steady your heads

Steady your hands "But Moses' hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down.(Exod.17.12 MSG) Consistency and stability are two traits that we need to succeed in life. The Bible says those second guessing themselves will not receive anything from God.  "Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves."(Jas.1.6)  Our text illustrated this very clearly. Moses had an assignment to keep his hand raised. But as human, he became tired and his hand would come down and as that happened his people would lose the battle. So he devised a means to create consistency and stability, he rested his hands on a stone, with support from Aaron and Hur on either side supporting him.  We need this kind of support, the kind of systems an structures that will help to create stability in ...
Read more

Daily ration, daily routine

Daily ration, daily routine  "GOD said to Moses, "I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day's ration. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration." (Exod.16.4 - 5) What you do daily determine what you become permanently. God had told the children of Israel that he was going set up rules and procedures for them to follow. In this day and age, we would have said structures and systems but rules and procedures communicate the same intentions.  So God says to Moses in response to the complaint against God about not having enough to eat. God says He will rain bread down from the skies but these bread are to be taken by the people on a daily basis and on the sixth day, they will take a double portion. Take only what the day requires. This will set them in ...
Read more

Be mindful of the crowd of riffraff

Be mindful of the crowd of riffraff "GOD saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean. The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. There was also a crowd of riffraff tagging along, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock." Exod.12.36 - 38) These verses bring to mind the parable Jesus told about the wheat and tares. The Bible says the farmer planted good seed but at mid night while men slept the enemy sowed tares among the good seed. When he was asked if the tares be uprooted, he told them no, but that they should grow together. The operative word been grow.  "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matt.13.30 ) The israelite came out of Egypt not just ...
Read more