3.276 What Fires Do You Seek?

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Let's go back to Isaiah 44 and talk about fire. We are reading this week Isaiah chapters 40 through 49. And I mentioned yesterday that I was still kind of just stewing and wrestling with Isaiah 44.

I felt like there was something there for me to learn. I tried to keep going with that but had to keep going with it. But I think I landed on something here, at least that's going to continue the thought.

And so I wanted to record it here and share it with you to maybe expand the thought for you as well. Isaiah 44 is where our verse is going to be today. And inside of it, we get this interesting kind of section that stuck with me about these.

It's the middle section here, about idols of wood as fuel for a fire. And there's kind of this interesting imagery about making the idols and burning the idols and ashes from the idols and stuff. And that's what I just kind of wrestled with a little bit.

But I came across, as I was looking through my different translations and as I was turning to my other resources, I landed, as I mentioned before, I also have a John Maxwell Leadership Bible as well. And so I turned to John Maxwell Leadership Bible to kind of see if there was any sort of reflection on that. I'm going to start with a section here that I thought, okay, this is, I can start to put some sort of idea together here for me to better understand this section in Isaiah.

And in it, he talks about fire and man-made fire versus God-given fire. And so let's do our verse for today. And then let's see what this connection can make here.

Our verse is Isaiah chapter 44, verse six. And it's really the front end of this section. Verse 6 says, Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God.

Now we know the children of Israel certainly dealt with a time of idol worship. We tend to think that that kind of a historical thing, but idol worship is very alive and well today in our own. And so what John Maxwell mentions here is kind of just, he kind of just made two lists here: What are man fires like?

What are their characteristics versus God fires? So inside of this, he says, man fires have three components: They have a tendency to go out. They are not sufficient for today, and they are not contagious.

I thought that was an interesting term to use, but I started thinking about this, you know, I love a good campfire, like the next person does. I love to go up in the mountains and, you know, roast a hot dog or whatever, have some s'mores. And yet this tendency to go out is really interesting to me because if you don't tend to a fire, it certainly will at some point, depending on its size and fuel, just go out.

The Bible says that the fire of the Lord will feed us for eternity. The fire of the Lord will feed us for eternity. But then he gives this other side, God-given fires.

He says, God-given fires remain as long as our focus stays on Him. And I thought that was interesting. We keep our focus on Him, the fire stays inside of us.

He says number two, they are more than enough to meet our needs. I know there are several times where the Lord has shown his abundance in my life in miraculous ways. And so there always seems to be enough when you're turning to the Lord.

And then third, God-given fires are contagious for those who see them. Again, this interesting focus on being able to see the fire and then become contagious and have it spread. My friends, I don't know that I've landed on for sure conclusions here with Isaiah 44, but this certainly has me thinking about other, kind of making another little micro list here, of what man-made fires look like, sound like, and feel like, and how I identify them in my own life, versus turning to God-given fires that burn from within as I keep my focus on Him.

Wanted to share that and I hope that there's something inside of there that you can take away as well and turn towards God-given fires today. That's all for today my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.