It's one of my favorite quotes from the Bible and it comes from Luke's story of two people walking the road to Emmaus. A stranger joins them on this journey and pretty soon the stranger is talking scripture (the Hebrew scriptures or what we Christians would call the Old Testament since that was all that there was). It turns out that this stranger is the risen Jesus and he is connecting the dots in the scriptures .....which, I would guess firmly point to him as God's Messiah. When the two companions finally figure it all out, one says, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened to us the scriptures?" Apparently, God's Word and fire are not uncommon. Luke 24.32
In the book of Exodus, Moses encounters a bush that is burning but not consumed....the famous 'burning bush' story. As Moses comes closer to inspect this phenomena, a voice says, 'take off your sandals. You are standing on holy ground'. Yep, that was God, calling Moses to be God's servant and the liberator of the Hebrew people. Exodus 3.1ff
The prophet Jeremiah is another example. In the 20th chapter, after having endured consistent and nasty responses to his faithful preaching, Jeremiah has had all he can take. "You have enticed me, and I was enticed" Jeremiah cries. [There are some very interesting variations on the translation of that word 'enticed']
If you have read all the previous 19 chapters you would probably agree with the crowd; Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet, is a buzz killer. As a result, he was called names, called out, ostracized and pushed around, and just because he is doing what God called him to do (see chapter 1), that is, to speak the words that God put in his mouth. No one likes the message, so they want to get rid of the messenger.
Jeremiah wants to get rid of the Word of God that is constantly coming to him; he wants to retire from his job as prophet. So he says, "If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." God's Word was a fire in his bones. Wow. Jeremiah 20.9
When the disciples gathered after Easter for the feast of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came among them like tongues of fire with a tongue of fire resting on each one present. Soon everyone was speaking and hearing languages they didn't otherwise know. Hmmm Acts 2.3
When was the last time God's Word lit a fire in your belly? When did it compel you to speak? When did God call you to be a servant and liberator of others?
I would guess there are times when a gentle nudge is no longer enough to get God's people moving. Sometimes it takes a little heat, applied wherever God believes it will do the most good.
Have you felt the heat lately?
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