Antagonistic and Destructive Forces

“I have refined you. . . . I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).

“By forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive, Nature accomplishes her beneficent designs. . . . now a flood of fire, now a flood of ice. . . . and again in the fullness of time an OUTBURST OF ORGANIC LIFE.” (John Muir, 1877, “Father of the National Parks”).

I saw this quotation on a placard as I stood in front of a giant Sequoia tree in northern California. My wife and I were overwhelmed with the grandeur and majesty of these massive trees which stood as testimonies of the exceedingly powerful ways of our Sovereign Creator.

It was amazing to discover how these colossal giants of God’s creation are given birth. The Sequoia tree owes its life to fire. Yes, fire. Fire creates ideal conditions for Sequoia seeds to germinate and for seedlings to grow. Heat rising from a fire dries overhanging cones, causing them to open. Cones then rain seeds onto fire-cleared, ash-fertilized ground—a perfect seedbed. Millions of Sequoia seedlings sprout after a fire.  Without an intense forest fire, there would be none of these majestic giants.

Fire also kills many trees of other species that do not survive as well as Sequoias.  Thus competition for sunlight, water and nutrients is reduced. The fire’s heat also kills fungi that could harm Sequoia roots. In short, Sequoia seedlings thrive when they are birthed on a bed of ashes in a sunny open place. 

Your soul and mine have the potential of towering greatness in the eyes of heaven. Our souls are like these Sequoia seedlings. God, in His infinitely wise design, has fashioned us to truly come to Life, the fullness of Life, after a fire has ravaged our plans, after a flood has brought sudden destruction, after the winds have blown away our dreams. Every soul must encounter disappointment, set-back, and the powerful temptation to cave in to discouragement.

Yet God, the architect of every heart, has tailor-made our pathways so that our intersection with fire, flood and wind actually produces something beautiful and, in time, something majestic. Such things are essential for the disciple who would follow in the footsteps of the Master. Our training will not be complete until we have tasted sufficiently of His sufferings.  Every soul, every person will experience some form of the furnace of affliction throughout their lifetimes.  

God has written into the very fabric of the creation itself many deep spiritual lessons He longs to impart to us. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; the expanse (firmament) is declaring the works of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). Some people allow the fires of this life to destroy them. People of faith allow the fires to refine them so they can abound with Life.

Several instances of revival are breaking out currently on certain college campuses. In one sense, the fire of the Lord is being distributed.  However, for revival to bring about heaven’s results, the Fire must usher in confession of sin which leads to repentance.  May this kind of fire abound among us in these days.

Worship Hymn Ministries (501c3)

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Kansas City, MO 64139

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John G. Elliott

Worship Hymn Ministries