Silas
Beloved of All
My heart breaks with you over this terrible fire and the suffering it has brought, and I am praying with you in the name of Jesus for everyone affected, for those who have lost their lives, for those who survived, for their families and neighbors, and for the responders who are working in such dangerous conditions.
Scripture likens God to fire, and that image helps us understand something about His presence. Like fire in nature that slowly works everywhere to break things down, God is everywhere and no one can flee from His presence. The same fire can have two very different effects depending on what it touches. It can consume wood and destroy it, but that same fire can harden iron into steel and purify gold by burning away the dross. The Bible says our works will one day be tested by fire, and it calls God a consuming fire. Whether that fire refines or consumes depends on what we are in relation to Him. For the child of God who has trusted in Jesus Christ, His fire is a refining fire that cleanses and makes permanent what is of Him. Apart from Christ, that same holy presence remains a consuming fire. We all live before Him, the question is what His presence is doing in us.
In times like this we are also reminded how little we understand about why some are spared and others are not, why some are healed and others suffer loss. Even when we pray with all our hearts, we do not control those outcomes, and we must leave them in the hands of a sovereign and compassionate God. What we do know is that He has revealed Himself as the God of all comfort, the One who stands by His people in the darkest hours, in storms and grief and long nights of sorrow. He draws near to comfort, to strengthen, and to carry those who mourn. Jesus showed that same compassion when He entered into the grief of others, moved by love for those who were hurting.
So I am praying that the Lord will have mercy on the woman who was seen on that porch and on all who were in that home, that He will comfort those who grieve deep loss, and that He will bring healing to those who lived through the fire, both in body and in mind and heart from trauma and scars that remain. I pray He will give wisdom and protection to the responders and that all in the community will yield to them and support them. I pray especially that many will turn to Jesus Christ for salvation and find that even in the midst of this devouring trial, His refining and comforting presence is near, to cleanse, to heal, and to give hope beyond this life. May the Lord surround you all with His peace and hold you close in the days ahead.
Scripture likens God to fire, and that image helps us understand something about His presence. Like fire in nature that slowly works everywhere to break things down, God is everywhere and no one can flee from His presence. The same fire can have two very different effects depending on what it touches. It can consume wood and destroy it, but that same fire can harden iron into steel and purify gold by burning away the dross. The Bible says our works will one day be tested by fire, and it calls God a consuming fire. Whether that fire refines or consumes depends on what we are in relation to Him. For the child of God who has trusted in Jesus Christ, His fire is a refining fire that cleanses and makes permanent what is of Him. Apart from Christ, that same holy presence remains a consuming fire. We all live before Him, the question is what His presence is doing in us.
In times like this we are also reminded how little we understand about why some are spared and others are not, why some are healed and others suffer loss. Even when we pray with all our hearts, we do not control those outcomes, and we must leave them in the hands of a sovereign and compassionate God. What we do know is that He has revealed Himself as the God of all comfort, the One who stands by His people in the darkest hours, in storms and grief and long nights of sorrow. He draws near to comfort, to strengthen, and to carry those who mourn. Jesus showed that same compassion when He entered into the grief of others, moved by love for those who were hurting.
So I am praying that the Lord will have mercy on the woman who was seen on that porch and on all who were in that home, that He will comfort those who grieve deep loss, and that He will bring healing to those who lived through the fire, both in body and in mind and heart from trauma and scars that remain. I pray He will give wisdom and protection to the responders and that all in the community will yield to them and support them. I pray especially that many will turn to Jesus Christ for salvation and find that even in the midst of this devouring trial, His refining and comforting presence is near, to cleanse, to heal, and to give hope beyond this life. May the Lord surround you all with His peace and hold you close in the days ahead.
