WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE FIRE
We sat down on the floor that night like a woman sitting down to mourn in a house in Cameroon where someone just passed away. In our case, no one was dead but we were grieving.
Uncontrollable steams of tears went down our face. We sat there shaking in anger and talking to God, pouring out all our emotions before Him. We asked Him why He would let us go through something so painful. We yelled at Him for allowing us to go through pain.
We were broken, so broken that we couldn’t see any glimmer of hope. All we thought of, dwelled on were negative thoughts. And the more we allowed negativity into our heart, the more we felt hopeless.
Later that night after having several battles with our mind, trying to focus on the positives and trying to sleep, we felt God was bringing a scripture to our mind. It is the scripture that says “When you pass through the waters, we will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:2, NJKV)
What stuck out to us in this scripture is the use of ‘when’ not ‘if’. God doesn’t say, “if you walk through the fire”. He says ‘when you walk through the fire.” ‘If’ would mean we may or may not walk through the fire. ‘When’ means we will definitely walk through the fire.
As we meditated on this scripture we realized that times of walking through the fire are inevitable. We cannot evade it. You cannot evade it. There are hard seasons when we feel like the world is crashing on us and God has forgotten about us.
There are seasons of pain, brokenness, and struggles. But this is what God says: “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” That flame is not meant to burn you. It is meant to purify you.
As someone who cooks a lot, we know the dangers and the strengths of fire. Fire can burn you but also, fire can make satisfying food happen. It is because of the heat in our kitchen that we are able to cook, to grill, to fry, to saute and bake. Fire/heat makes tasty things happen.
So does the fire in your life, our friend.
You need that fire to build you into the person God wants you to be. The fire is not there to burn you but to prepare you. It is there to help you build character. It is there to build resilience. It is there to make your faith stronger.
And most importantly, note that God is right there with you. As you walk through the fire, as you go through difficulties and question why. As your heart aches in pain. As you cry so many tears that leave you with swollen eyes. As you struggle to find rest at night but sleep evades you, know that He is there, close enough. You will walk through this fire and come out better, strengthened than ever before.
As we realized this that night, we stopped being mad at God and felt peace instead. And we found myself being thankful for something we never thought we will be thankful for, which is trials. Yep, we are thankful for trying moments because they are building moments.
Just remember:
“When you pass through the waters, we will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.” Isaiah 43:2, NKJV
