It is sad knowing people have lost their homes and all their belongings to the flames. Farmers have lost crops, forests and mountains have been scorched and laid waste. These are dangerous events for sure.
My grandparents used fire to burn off their fields – a controlled burn. It destroyed the brambles and weeds, allowing the soil to breathe and replenish itself. They would trim saplings and brush from the fence rows, and then we’d have a big bonfire. It was quite an event. Many times, the evening would end with hot dogs and roasted marshmallows. I love a good fire.
Psalm 97 starts with a fire – a fire that melts the hills and burns up the enemies. Clouds, darkness, and lightning accompany it. Sounds like an epic and scary show of nature, but the Psalm renders this catastrophe to God – this is the effect of His presence.
Why does God make such a show? Verse six says, “So all the people see His glory.”
Just as my family used fire to cleanse and rejuvenate their fields, God used fiery judgment to cleanse and rejuvenate His people, so they could see His glory and return to His ways.
If the field isn’t cleared, the soil is choked and the weeds, the enemies, take over. If, in our lives, cleansing or chastisement doesn’t take place, we get choked by sin, and our faith cannot continue to grow.
It would be hard to miss if God dealt with us by fire today!
Hebrews 12:11reads, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”
We don’t like correction, just like we don’t like the thought of losing something we love to a fire, but until that correction takes place - even if it hurts – we will never know what new and peaceable fruit can grow in the soil of our hearts.
It’s the after effect – that’s where the joy is found.
And 2 Corinthians 5:11 reads, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
This may seem an odd verse to add here. Still, if we have experienced, or truly believe, that God can break through like a cleansing fire into a life, and that men are bound for an eternal flame, then love demands we persuade; we strive to convince them of the surety of God’s judgment and of their precarious state.
God’s hand of terror does more than judge and destroy. It clears a path for light and gladness. For once the smoke is cleared away, and the enemy is gone, God’s glory shines; light is sown and that peaceable fruit of righteousness has room to grow and rejoice the heart.
2 Corinthians 4:6 tells us: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
That is the After Effect – when God intervenes, it is to bring light!
When Mount Saint Helens erupted and scorched the earth with molten lava, the scientists said it would take generations for the earth to recover, but by the next spring, things were growing, and the seared scar was covered by new forestation. Light had reached the forest floor, reviving nature.
So don’t fear the dark times and fiery moments of life. God may be at work clearing land where you can grow and prosper. And so you can see His glory.
Let's also consider one more thought. God sows light, and we should be sowing light to help others see His glory.
This too is the After Effect. When we reach and pull men out, as Jude 23 says, "out of the fire," God's glory is seen. God commands the light to shine, and we are His witnesses. What an amazing change happens when a soul is redeemed from eternal damnation - what a wonderful after effect!
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