Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

February 17, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO KEEP ME FROM GETTING BURNED

Isaiah 43:2 …… when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Sometimes we find ourselves going through deep waters, but sometimes we find ourselves in the fire. I might be wrong but I see going through the fire to be a bit more intensive than going through the water. I would see going through the waters as a “trusting” experience, but going through the fire can be a “trying” experience. I believe when we go through the waters we learn much about God, but when going through the fire we learn much about ourselves. You don’t really know how valuable something is until it is tested in the heat. In I Corinthians 3, God puts it this way: “12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”. So God wants our “trying“ experience to end up being a “trusting“ experience. He wants us to not just come through it, but to come through it as gold.

Now just so we understand the verse, we are told that we shall not be “burned“, and the flame will not “Kindle“ upon us. In the Hebrew, to be “burned” means to be consumed, but this word “kindle” means to feed. When you throw sticks into a fire, not only are those sticks consumed but those sticks are what feed the fire and to make it grow. You see, every time you and I are consumed by our problems, burdens, and trials, the fire grows in our life. We feed it. It continues to take more, and it continues to get bigger. God says that you do not have to be consumed with the fire, and you do not have to be used to make it grow. It will not feed off of you. Fire has to be burning something in order to continue to be a fire. When there’s nothing to burn, the fire is extinguished. God is saying here that not only will the fire not absorb you, it will not even agitate you.

Of course you and I read this verse and believe it is probably making reference to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you remember when they were thrown into that furnace that would go beyond anything we understand today, that not only were these men not burned to death, but they were not burned at all. The fire did not absorb them, and it did not even agitate them. The Bible says they were literally walking around in the furnace. Dear friend it is important for us to understand today that the things that happen in our life not only do not have to ruin us, but they do do not even have to ruin our day!

Has there been a fire in your life recently that ruined your day, or that ruined you? I am persuaded that God is able to keep me and you from being burned.