Tag: fire

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

He’s the God of cold, too

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Annie Nyle on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Psalm 147.

When I think of God’s creation, especially the Garden of Eden, I imagine of a sunny day, with spring-like temperatures, and a gentle breeze. After all, the first man and woman were naked, so it would have been a nice, warm, comfortable place.

It turns out that the Creator is the God of cold, too.

He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
    who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. (Psalm 147:16-18)

I love these unlikely pairings. Snow covers the ground like a warm blanket. Frost blows through the air like ashes from a fire, settling on tree limbs and rooftops. Ice crystals resemble cookie crumbs falling after a bite. God’s word, which created the wintry weather also melts it. He thaws out a frozen world.

At times, God is a consuming fire. When his people disobey, his anger burns. God sends down fire to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and to consume Elijah’s sacrifice on Mt. Carmel. God leads his people through the wilderness as a pillar of fire. Spirit comes down on the apostles like tongues of fire on Pentecost. When John sees Jesus in Revelation, “His eyes were like a flame of fire” (Rev. 1:14). In heaven, God is surrounded by seraphim, fiery creatures who never stop repeating, “Holy, holy, holy!”

I think it’s cool that he’s the God of cold, too!

Posted in Advent devotions

Fire from heaven

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

The firewood was damp. I didn’t have any newspaper. What little kindling I could find was wet. It was windy. Night was approaching. It was a challenge, but I got a smoky fire going inside the campsite ring of rocks.

Elijah arranged similar conditions when he challenged the prophets of Baal to a sacrifice challenge. He soaks his sacrifice and the wood beneath it with enough water to fill a moat around the altar. But it’s not a problem for God who send fire to consume the sacrifice, wood, stone altar, and all the water (1 Kings 18:20-40). There’s nothing left but a crater after the Lord demonstrates that he is the one true God.

On a recent walk I saw a burned out shell of a car in someone’s driveway. Every Thanksgiving people post videos of turkeys going up in flames when improperly dropped into a pot of hot oil. I vividly remember when wildfires raged within a half-mile of my home. I never underestimate the power of flames.

Every once in while God shows up in fire. Like the burning bush from which he spoke to Moses. Or chariots and horses of fire when he took Elijah to heaven. Or when he spoke to Zechariah who was burning incense in the temple. The Holy Spirit looked like tongues of fire descending on the apostles on Pentecost. Jesus’s eyes looked like they were on fire when John saw him in the first chapter of Revelation.

Sometimes God’s fire consumes. Sometimes it purifies. Elijah gets an ornament on the Jesse Tree as he prayed for God to reveal himself with fire.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Injured on the job?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Image by Matthias Grießhammer from Pixabay

A “through the bible” devotion from Leviticus 10.

I paid for my room and board at my college fraternity house by washing lunch and supper dishes each weekday. It wasn’t an exciting job, but some of the brothers and I found ways to make it fun.

One fun game involved stabbing at an empty milk jug with a large chef’s knife. I know what you’re thinking. No, it never crossed our minds that this was a stupid thing to do. When my friend Bob attacked a a jug, the tip of the knife caught on the edge of the metal counter, so that his hand slid up the blade, slicing all four fingers on his hand. After a bloody trip to the emergency room later, we were all a little wiser. It’s all fun until someone gets hurt, right?

“Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Ordination of the priests lasted a week (Leviticus 8:33). The job was important. But if you keep reading chapter 10, God reminds Aaron, that you didn’t drink when you were performing priestly duties. Is that what happened with Nadab and Abihu? Was their blood alcohol over the limit? Were they under the influence?

Theirs was a tough lesson to learn. The same fire that had consumed the burnt offerings (9:29) now incinerated two of Aaron’s sons. The Lord gave specific instructions for the burning of incense in the tabernacle. Here’s the first addendum: show up sober.

A friend of mine in new home construction told me that many of his crew was high or buzzed when they showed up for work each morning. Yep, those were the guys working up on the roof or on the ground brandishing nail guns and circular saws.

By the grace of God, I never had any pastoral work-related injuries. Although, I did climb a few ladders to work on a few roofs.

Posted in Food

Roasting Peeps: Disappointing but delicious

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Roasting Peeps over a fire seemed like a good idea. It was an exciting idea. As soon as my grandsons came in the door late Easter afternoon, they wanted to know when we were roasting Peeps. “Not till after supper.”

The whole project was almost derailed when Consumer Reports announced that Peeps colored with red dye #3 could cause cancer. Disaster. Fortunately, we purchased traditional yellow Peeps. Whew. We were good to go.

After an Easter egg hunt and ziti supper, I got a nice hot fire going in the pit and we were ready to roll. We got out the Peeps and loaded up the marshmallow roasting sticks. It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t the same as roasting a marshmallow. It should be. After all, what’s a Peep? In our case, a yellow chick-shaped marshmallow. A few seconds over the fire and the sugar coating Peep number one burned and the chick began to drip into the fire. As long as it doesn’t catch on fire, a marshmallow will firm up as it turns brown. The Peep mostly just melted and turned black. Yuk.

But hey, no way I’m wasting a good Peep. We put it between graham crackers with a piece of chocolate to make a tasty Peep S’more. Didn’t look nice but tasted great. A fun way to wash down all that Easter candy. Lol. Next time we stick with marshmallows.

Posted in Life

Is the fire ready?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“Are we going to roast marshmallows?”

Absolutely. The weather was a little cooler, a perfect night to gather around a fire supper. In preparation, I crumbled up newspaper, covered it with small tree branches I had gathered up in the yard, and stood up a pyramid of firewood over the whole thing.

The sky was just beginning to darken as we finished up supper. I headed out to the fire pit and lit the paper. As the first flames flickered, a grandson with a marshmallow and a stick behind me asked, “Is the fire ready?”

For Christmas, we bought other grandchildren a rock tumbler. A great idea for aspiring rock hounds. Until my son read the instructions. Tumbling takes four weeks!

We certainly don’t like to wait, do we? Less than a second after the light turns green, the car behind me leans on the horn so I’ll get step on the grass. A fifteen minute wait for a restaurant table? No thanks, we’ll go somewhere else. Don’t you pick the shortest checkout line at the store?

Five minute oil change. One hour air conditioner repair. No wait emergency room. Instant potatoes. Now, that’s more like it.

Lol. It rarely works that way. An hour on hold to talk to a person at the bank. A minimum of three to four hours in the emergency room. A week for seeds to germinate in the garden. Seven to ten business days for the refund to show up in your bank account. Nine months for the baby to arrive. A lot longer for a doctor appointment.

Is there any benefit to waiting? Maybe. Pausing when the light changes to green avoids a collision with the guy running the red light. More time in wide comfortable airport seats before spending three hours in a cramped middle seat between two strangers. Coffee from a freshly brewed pot. Holding a newborn in your arms. Flames that light up and warm up a chilly night. The smell of freshly baked bread. A gooey marshmallow.

Posted in Lent devotions

By the fire

Posted on by William Douthwaite

“Scenes from the passion” for Sunday, March 14, 2021. Photo by Tron Le on Unsplash.

And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. (Mark 14:54)

A crackling blaze in the hearth feels so good on a chilly night. Camping just doesn’t feel right without flames flickering in a fire ring. A stressful day melts away with a glass of wine as a few logs burn in your backyard fire pit.

As he shakes off the shock of Jesus’ arrest at Gethsemane, Peter waits just outside the high priest’s house, innocently warming his hands around the fire with the guards. What was going through his mind? Did he regret fleeing the scene just a few moments ago? Did he think he would have another chance to fight alongside his master? Was Peter still determined to die rather than turn his back on Jesus? Was he trying to hear what was going on inside?

Continue reading “By the fire” →
Posted in Advent devotions, Devotions

Advent devotion: The burning bush

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Neil Mark Thomas on Unsplash

“Live and in person” Advent devotion for December 3, 2020. Read Exodus 3:1-4 and Psalm 130.

I think I am just as surprised as Moses to find God speaking from a burning bush on Mt. Horeb. It had never happened before. It never happened again, at least not in the bible or anywhere I’ve ever read. But here on the mountain, Moses has a physical encounter with the Lord who comes to save His people long before His birth in Bethlehem to save His people from their sins. Forty years later Moses would tell the people, “The Lord your God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24). But not today. Today, “the bush was burning, but it was not consumed” (Ex. 3:3).


I can sit and gaze into a campfire for a long time. It’s so relaxing and peaceful. Until it starts talking to you! Once he knew who it was, Moses was afraid to look (Ex. 3:6).

Why do you suppose God chose to manifest Himself in this way to Moses? Well, for one thing, it certainly fits with the law and gospel message of scripture. Fire can burn and destroy. Fire also produces heat and light. Bad news and good news, which you need to fully get the message of God with us. Yes, a holy God comes to punish sin. He also comes to save us from sin. In that sense, fire captures and reveals the very nature of God who is at the same time the Almighty and the all-merciful.

When John the Baptist came preparing the way of the Lord, he said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11,12). That ancient fire was returning for both salvation and judgment.

The flames of our Advent candles are a great reminder of these moments. I’m very thankful for the warmth and brightness Jesus brings to what would otherwise be a cold and darkened world!

Thank you, Lord, for the fire of your presence in my life to save, purify and light the way. Amen.

Posted in Devotions, Lent

“Hail, fire and blood”

Posted on by William Douthwaite

2020 “By His Blood” Lent devotion #40

Photo by Hans on Pixabay

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. (Revelation 8:7)

Natural disasters, taking their toll on the earth, are always portents of the end, for this world as we know it will not last forever. Violent hail storms move across the heartland destroying crops. Fires burn out of control, wiping out millions of acres of forested areas. When these things happen, there are always lives that are lost, too. Blood is always mixed in. 

Just as we do, the created world around us waits and yearns to be set free from the calamity that sin has caused. It will happen. We just don’t know when. We don’t know when Christ will return. No one does. 

But these kinds of events are signs that there is an end and that he will come and  meant to move us to repentance. They are meant to wake us up and focus our attention on Jesus who is the only one who can rescue us from a world falling apart at the seams. 

Do you need a wake-up call? Probably. Most likely you take a lot for granted. Jesus loves you too much to let you do that. He gives us  birds and flowers to remind us we don’t have to worry about what we’ll eat or wear. He gives us storms and fires to remind us we need a Savior. And he gives us his word to remind us that he is the Savior, Christ the Lord. 

Thanks for the wake-up call, Lord. I needed that. Amen.