The burning sensation, on the side of my head and face, was hard to deal with. Putting ice on the affected area does not help, as it does not burned outwardly. It was this well-designed aura that I had, due to my neurological disorder, which serves as a necessary warning in the wake of performing my daily routine.
Later on, I realized that it was a privilege having this burning sensation before the big thing arrived. I have the chance to get ready – either by taking pills or saying a prayer, reporting it to the Lord. Yet the severe burning sensations are hard to endure. When it already started it is better to gear up myself till it subsides.
Although I did not intend to describe in details here, as I did it to my doctors, it starts from one point and leave at the tip of the hands or toes. It gripped, must have gripped, the cells around which it occurs or travelled. Sometimes I try looking myself at the mirror to check if it damage my skin; it did not, as it was not actually burning. And after my brain surgery, two years back, I got relieved a bit.
It was the might of God in display; I was like burning yet unconsumed in the abiding grace of God. Not all burning feeling or thing did not necessarily ended in burning up the body or materials. If the mind and heart are still intact it’s sufficient, and you can still talk to God or count the fire-left-outs.
Yet we’re still human with senses and emotions. So, we react as we endure the burning moments, although in different ways. Some gets angry at one time, while some complains, and others silently endure the phase. In the end, it is our state of mind which rally matters; we can feel unconsumed in the abiding grace of God.
Literally, we’re living a burning life; there are burned up parents, burning energy as we work hard, trying hard to burn unwanted calories, burning mind as we struggle to keep checks and balance, burning stack for recycling, temperature rising burning the ice-covered land, and many more.
Burned Yet Unconsumed:
In the burning thing, and/or experience we can see more of the might of God, as I said earlier. A well-trained yet runaway man met God, in the wilderness of his life and place, through observing the burning bush. His name is Moses, the faithful servant of God.
Moses saw a flame of fire amidst a bush, in Mount Horeb, where he kept the flock of Jethro, his father in law. So he looked, and behold; the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. He turned aside to see why the bush does not burn.
When the Lord saw he turned aside, He called onto his name, directed to take off his sandals because where the Lord is; it is a holy place. Now the Lord gave Moses a life-long task of delivering His people from the oppression of Egypt till the Promised Land. (Exodus 3)
In very short, Moses give-in to be part of God’s mission, which involved him walking and talking with the Lord as they lead the Israelites, throughout his lifetime. Trusting, putting on faith in the Lord, who burned yet unconsumed the bush, was a game-changer moment in the life of Moses.
Inside The Burning Fiery Furnace:
Now I want to take you the three young men who’d spent time with the son of God inside the burning fiery furnace. This was the decree of King Nebuchadnezzar:
At the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery in symphony with all kinds of music all people, under the command of the Babylonian king should fall down and worship the gold image the king himself had set up. And failing to worship the gold image would invite throwing them perpetrators in the burning fiery furnace, alive.
The three young men faithful to the living God – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, however did not worship the gold image which angered the king. Then they bound these men, in the king’s order, and cast them into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Inside the burning fiery furnace, the king saw, four men walking loose in the midst of fire. They did not get hurt, and the fourth is like the Son of God. The three men were seen enjoying special time with their God, in the most unlikely situation of their life, inside the burning furnace. (Daniel 3)
They were burn yet unconsumed in the abiding grace of God. The harshest punishment molds them into stronger warrior of God. Their burning experience thwarted the work of evil, turned their hostile situation into celebration proclaiming the work of God through their lives. The king, then instructed, all people to worship the God of the three faithful young men.
Beyond Our Burning Living:
It would be wrong to play with fire. But when the fire of evil tries burning our living, it would be wise to curb the fire before we get burned. We get burned in various ways and at different degrees. More importantly, we have a mighty God who restores the burned.
We have a fragile heart, which gets burned very easily. In today’s world, we expected God to act in our behalf, work His way out and spare us of undesired burning. But in reality, that is not the case. There are times we need to experience the smell of burning so that we get more refined.
Some, as it seems to us, did not even go through the fire like Moses but saw the burning of bush. Yet we cannot compare with the fate of others. They may not go through the fire, which is visible to the human, but they still have battles to battle in certain ways.
The refiner’s fire is always burning, for you and me, to get refined. The sort of each one’s work was reveal in the fire. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Yet it is hard to go through the burning period. (1 Cor. 3:15)
The more you get burned, the more you will get thirsty for more sweet little drops of water. We are cautioned many times in life; however we still get burned in the unending lust and desires of the body and heart. (Romans 1:27)
Let me reiterate here and again that, in certain ways, I have lived the burning living, which is not the end of the world. When we called and acknowledge our desires to the Lord, as we went through the burning furnace of life, our God enjoyed being with us through the fire, while we waited for the king (as in the three young men’s case) to take us out of the fire.
Our body may get burned, living through series of burning experience, yet the soul will see the goodness of the Lord, most high. There are numerous elements and ways which could burn our heart, mind, and body. But, in the abiding grace and mercy of the God, we are not consumed.(Lamentations 3:22-25) And, in the midst of my burning living I thanked God for His abiding grace.
I think this is a powerful piece of writing – thank you!!
Thank you for reading. God be wtih you!