We had some of the largest bonfires you have ever seen on the farm. We had them way in a back corner of an open field on our forty acre farm. Some were so big the neighbors thought the woods were on fire and called the police! But they were always under control.
They may not have been as big as I remembered because sometimes as a child you remember things from a kids point of view (like snowfall).
We would throw a variety of garbage on the fire. The fire did not care what kind of garbage it was. It consumed it all. We would drive away and come back in a few hours and it would all be gone!
The fire had no respect or partiality towards the garbage it consumed. If anything got close to the fire it was completely destroyed.
Three times in the Bible God is called "a consuming fire" (Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 9:3 and Hebrews 12:29).
Some people think they are close to God but their life is full of garbage – self and sin. It is not possible to get close to God and stay the same. Something is going to be consumed. There will be a purging and a purifying work done by the fire of God's presence. This is good!
Proverbs 25:4 says, "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer."
The finer (one who refines and purifies) is God. The vessel is us. The dross is self and sin. The silver is a valuable metal that the finer is pleased to use and show.
We need a purifying in the church today. To have that we must get close to Him who is the consuming one.
