During controlled burns, an all-consuming fire clears underbrush, giving trees a better chance of remaining healthy; it also allows new growth to quickly come back as food for small animals.
Such burns can be human-engineered, but in many hard-to-reach places, this is done by God's lightning strikes and whichever source He chooses.
In Jeremiah 20:9, the prophet states that when he was trying to be silent, God's Word was like a fire shut up in His bones that he could not silence. In Mark 9:4, Jesus Himself states that everyone will be salted with fire.
These two statements demonstrate one fact: As a child of the King, you are allowed to go through different trials and troubles as a way of changing your landscape. Your emotions, your view of God, and realizing how important it is to depend on Him are just some of the outcroppings of troubled times.
The fire that burns us removes all the stuff that has crowded around us — prejudice, pride, anger, self adoration and other daily emotions — so we can be spiritually healthier
As every fire has a source, Jeremiah tells us that source is indeed God's Word. We must read it more, apply it to our lives, and remove whatever distracts us from our goal of being pleasing unto God.
Too often, we would rather put out that fire and not read, not respond to the God of all creation — and we expect that one day we might make it in to heaven?
Listen, for us to be made acceptable unto God and live a life to His desires, we must be set apart, made holy by that fire which sanctifies us.
In John 17:17, Jesus prayed to the Father that we might be sanctified by His Word because His Word is truth.
We must be willing to allow His Word to become a fire in our bones that consumes all that we are, and become all that He desires.
The Rev. Richard Helms serves at Miracle Acres Ministries, 3187 E. James Lee Blvd., in Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HELMS: Controlled burns are a reminder of God's word