The question I ask is:
what is it about fires and floods?
They are two happenings that bring so much destruction and devastation in our physical lives. Unfortunately, we are captivated by them. My house has never been on fire; I actually don’t know too many people in my life that have had parts of their house, or their house in general, go up in flames. However, when we turn on the news – the majority of stories in central New York are about fires. Other families’ devastation unfortunately captivates us. While I haven’t had my house burn, my wife and I have been dealing with a flood in our kitchen since we returned from a vacation at the end of June. Thankfully for us, it was not a major flood by any means and God has surely blessed us through all of it (even though I couldn’t see that at the beginning or in the middle of the negotiating).
For most of my life, when I’ve seen news stories about fires or floods I see destruction, devastation, loss of a home, loss of possessions, grief, and sadness. It would almost seem psychotic to say that you could see beauty in it. But the truth of the matter is that over the last season of my life, God has allowed me to see the beauty in a fire or flood. He has allowed me to see the true purpose in that situation. Now before anyone who reads this storms my home or finds me at church with a baseball bat, I’ll tell you why.
The Gospel.
I’ve been captivated by a song that I heard several years ago; the title is The Fire & The Flood by Loud Harp. The lyrics are written as follows:
“This time when You come
Do not keep silent
This time when You come
Don’t hide Your face
Oh bring the fire
Burn what isn’t You
Oh bring the flood
Overwhelm us
Wade, wade in the water
God’s going to trouble the water
Remind us that You’re God
Remind us that You’re God
Then remind us that You’re good
Remind us that You’re good”
In the last season of my life, most importantly as a Husband and Father, I’ve learned some hard, but, beautiful lessons. I’ve had to have hard conversations with many people that I love. I have had to take a hard look in the mirror as a Husband, Father, Friend, Son, Pharmacist, Church Servant, and most importantly as a God fearing man. I have had to look sin and destruction in the eye and see that it was not being brought to the surface to harm me, it was to protect me. It was to protect my family and ultimately, my call. See, when we see fires and floods we don’t see beauty – but the truth is it’s just so beautiful it’s hard not to get romantic about it. These seasons: famines, fires, floods, call it whatever you want – it’s a love story. It’s an out-pouring of love from one and only one source – God.
The funny thing is this: when the disaster recovery team was in drying our kitchen floor, they said that we needed to have it tested for asbestos. I’m thinking:
what the heck would asbestos be doing in my kitchen?
I guess it’s the nerd in me that never understood that asbestos could be in tape, glue, etc. when you’re dealing with a building over 50 years old. But, as it turned out that 3 layers under the floor we had put down was a bunch of asbestos, just sitting and waiting to be provoked to subsequently cause harm to our family.
Does that remind you of anything?
Our sin sits and waits in our life; what we see as harmless lays there unprovoked – growing and spreading. My sin laid there, dormant, waiting to just completely overwhelm me and my life. But God, in His marvelous grace, caused my life to flood so that someone could come in and test for asbestos. My floor will eventually be ripped out (when no one is home of course) and be taken all the way down to the sub-floor. That is what God does. In the famine, the fire, He burns away everything that is not Him in our life and takes us down to the foundation and checks WHAT ARE WE BUILT ON? What is laying there waiting to destroy us? What needs to be removed? Is this foundation solid or will it wither away over time?
Fires and floods give people the opportunity to rebuild homes, kitchens, etc. But God gives us the ability to rebuild our lives. God gives us the ability to become beautiful; white as snow. His love and grace floods our soul and spirit when we open up our hands and release whatever it is we’re grasping. It overwhelms us. You can re-do a kitchen or bathroom all you want – but there is no granite, no marble, no porcelain that can ever compare to the beauty of God that comes in and overwhelms us when we see our need for a savior.
To be holy is to be set apart, my pursuit of this will never be over. But just as the song says “remind us that You’re God, remind us that You’re good,” I remind myself of this every day as I pursue holiness and the death of my flesh. I can honestly say months after the fact, I am so thankful for the fire and the flood. I am so thankful that my Father in heaven sent His son to pay for my sin and stand in place of me at His death when I never deserved it at all. To make me new again, to make me Holy, to make me beautiful, to show that there is no chain that love cannot break.
Welcome to my blog.
BMT.
The Fire & The Flood 