Our God is in the heavens, and he does as
he wishes. Psalm 115:3 NLT
What appeared
uncontrolled someone controlled.
Dusk descended on
our campsite as my wife and I enjoyed the third of our four-day camping trip.
As she stood before our one-burner stove popping popcorn, she asked, “Is that a
fire on the other side of the lake?”
I had seen what
she saw, but thought it was lights from houses on the mountainside. It wasn’t.
I walked to the lakeshore to get a better look. Sure enough, fire ascended and
descended up several mountainsides. The site shed a beauty I’d never seen
against the dusk-dark sky.
Then a hint of
fear grabbed me. I know the damage wildfires can do. Although this burned on
the other side of the lake, I wondered if it was headed our way. After taking a
few pictures, I started back to our campsite. My wife had good news. A fellow
camper reassured her the fire was a controlled burn. He even told her how to
know.
Controlled burns
burn in a straight line. Wildfires rage in jagged patterns, rising to enormous
heights and entering and exiting every nook and cranny. When I looked at the
fire, I saw what the fellow camper said about the fire. Our fears disappeared,
and we enjoyed looking at what we before had feared.
Sometimes I
mistake a controlled burn for a wildfire in other areas. Listening to the news
on television or some other media source usually does the trick. Corrupt
political leaders. Governments divided and out of control. Crime escalating.
Abuse rising. Fathers leaving. Marriages dissolving. Kids rebelling. World
climate rising. The environment changing. But then I read this and other verses
that assure me God’s doing a controlled burn.
God possesses a
perfect and permissive will. Many things that occur in this world and in
people’s lives fall under His permissive rather than His perfect will. But even
those things He controls and can bring good from. Such as persecution against Christianity. Instead of stamping out Christianity, persecution has a
historical record of causing it to explode.
The same is true
in our personal lives. When things appear out of control like a raging wildfire,
they aren’t. God is performing a controlled burn. All we must do is cooperate
and trust until it burns to the point where He puts it out.
Don’t fear the
fires that appear out of control. God is executing a controlled burn.
Tweetable: Does your life seem out of control?
Prayer: Father,
we trust You to bring and allow things into our lives that will grow us
spiritually and form us more into Your image.
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