Consuming Fire

On Friday, a few of us gathered on a nearby member’s farm for a bonfire, hot chocolate and sausages. The cool, crisp air and twinkling stars provided a stunning backdrop to our fire. Like people who have never seen one before, we just stood around it and gazed, as though transfixed.

At the previous night’s Bible Study, we had considered the Song of Moses found in Exodus 15. It is the first song recorded in the Bible and was a thankful psalm of worship offered to the Lord for His deliverance out of Egypt. Yet it was conceived in fear- not of pharaoh, but God himself. True worship is reverential and awestruck by God’s power and dignity. It focusses not on ourselves and our wants, but His character, authority and salvation. Christ is our friend, but not our mate; God is our Father but not a parent before whom we can throw a tantrum. He’s our great Provider, but He’s no butler offering silver-tray room service. Like Lewis’ depiction of Aslan in the Narnia Chronicles, Christ is our loving friend and guardian, yet He is still fearsome and formidable. 

The fire helped me visualise this paradox. It offered warmth and comfort, but to go bounding up to it would not have been wise. That which offered cosiness to us was a destroyer of the fuel put upon it. While we stood around, its light allowed us to see each other; when we turned our backs to it, dark and cold our faces became. By its heat we cautiously cooked our marshmallows and lit our sparklers, but had we been careless, it would have just as readily consumed our arms.

Worship is respectfully entering the presence of the most terrifying and dreadful Being in the universe, yet knowing He delights in us, for we are His beloved. In these two seemingly opposing concepts there is no contradiction, for

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. Psalm 25:14