Fire

In the last six months, I've seen two incidents with fire and I know both of them could have no other source, but YHWH, Creator of heaven and earth. The first one, I mentioned a few months back in which the issue was timed and completely eliminated with fire from heaven in the form of lightning.

The situation I want to share happened the Shabbat before Passover so it's quite recent. I'd really been sprucing up the place, cleaning, and even doing some refinishing work on bathroom cupboards and counters. Late last week, a great deal of the country received a rather chilly introduction to spring, with unseasonably cool temperatures and in some areas, upwards of a foot of snow. The southern Ozarks just a received a dusting of snow with rain and wintry cold winds. I was getting to the living room for my Passover cleaning and decided a fire in fireplace for Shabbat seemed more energy efficient than the furnace or my moving the last of the firewood that was stacked by the hearth. A fire seemed a WIN/WIN solution. I'm always careful on Preparation day to get the fire started early in the afternoon, so it's going well by sunset. As I started the fire, I noticed it started very easily, easier than usual. I was grateful for the ease and went on with my cleaning and preparation.

I do chores a little earlier on Preparation Day, so I'm sure to be finished in time to light candles before sundown. I came in, lit my oil lamp and candles and threw another log on the fire. What happened next was most harrowing. From the dining room, I heard a sound that immediately took me back over 40 years to when I was a kid and our chimney caught fire. I went tearing into the living room to find a roaring blaze with flames shooting well up into the chimney. I went out the back door to get my large stainless steel soap kettle, grabbed the fire tongs and literally put that blazing log into the kettle and took it outdoors. Now, keep in mind my hair is well past my waist and was hanging down for Shabbat, so giving YHWH all glory that I didn't just burst into flames . . . I got the kettle on the front deck and looked up to see the chimney bonnet literally glowing red with sparks shooting out everywhere and blue flames licking the evening sky.

I grabbed some water and put the log in the kettle out and even splashed some in the fireplace, but I knew there was nothing I could do about that chimney, and it was still glowing in the night sky, still shooting red sparks and blue flames. I had been so careful to have everything "ready" for Shabbat, and now here I was standing in the cold on my front deck, barefooted, realizing it was now Shabbat.

As a rule, I don't ask YHWH for things on Shabbat, after all, it's His "day off." Now if someone has an emergency, that's a different matter, and it appeared that I was someone with an emergency. My prayer began specifically, "Abba, I know this is Shabbat, but I need your hand of intervention. I cannot stop this fire, and I need you to stop it, please." No major formality, just an honest, urgent plea. As I stood there looking up, I then saw a shadow come over that chimney. I witnessed the sparks begin to diminish while the flames lessened, then I saw the bonnet go from glowing crimson to dark.

Immediately, I began to weep in gratitude and thanked Him profusely. I praised Him and I "apologized for bothering Him on Shabbat." That was still big in my mind that He had heard my prayer and answered me directly and expediently, on this the day He has called holy.

Later, after shalom had settled over the place, a "knowing" came to my mind. All my extra cleaning almost went up in flames tonight for what had seemed to be no apparent reason. Then I remembered in working on the bathroom cupboards, just how strong those fumes were and how they had filled the house. I could even smell the fumes outdoors as I did chores because the exhaust fans were running. The fumes were intense. The fear that was trying to settle on me about the fireplace in general were allayed in the knowledge that the fumes had actually settled on that small stack of wood at the hearth.

I was blessed to receive the word of knowledge and the peace that passed all understanding after standing barefoot on the deck in the cold, knowing I could do no more than I had already done. But greater than the knowledge of how the fire began, I will never forget watching the shadow of the hand of The Almighty cover the chimney and literally consume that fire.

For our G-d is a consuming fire. - Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Hebrews and Jeremiah