Consume
For the past few months God has been talking to me every now and then about being consumed. I have decided to just do some processing in this blog post about just some thoughts that I have been recieving and some Scripture. I invite you to go on this journey with me. It is a journey, I have not done any of the normal study/research I would usually do before doing a post of this nature…
I have been thinking about how our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29, ref: Deut. 15:24). Everytime I have read the Hebrews Scripture, it stands out to me, I don’t know why. But for some reason it does. I think back and remember some things that God was speaking to me in the past about, Elijiah. I remember God speaking to be about Elijiah and there are times in my life that I very much identify with Elijiah, especially when the queen came after him. But I think back to 1 Kings 18 where Elijiah invites the prophets of Baal and Asherah to a duel of fates, as I like to call it. A two on one, winner take all brawl, basically. We all learned the story in Sunday school as kids (pfft) and it climaxes in verse 38. I want to quote the King James version because a) that is the version I read this story in first and b) because it illustrates what I am talking about better then NIV.
It says, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings 15:38)
That is so intense. I cannot help but connect this section of Scripture with something Paul writes about in his letter to the church in Rome. Chapter 12 of that letter talks about how we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Again, I cannot help but put the 2 together and see myself on that alter in 1 Kings, God’s fire falling on me. What does this mean? I am not all together sure, yet. But maybe as I process in writing I will come up with something that sits well with my spirit.
Switching gears, one of my friend’s favorite worship tracks is “Fire Fall Down” by Hillsong. It is quickly turning into a favorite of mine as well (“Inside out” by Hillsong and a track by Taylor Sorensen called “Gloria 34″ are still ahead). It is, at its core, a cry out to God for His fire to fall, and therefore to consume us. I often think when we sing this song in youth group or other groups if people really understand what it means to be consumed. I really think that there are two parts to it. There is refinement and there is the actual and literal consumption of our lives.
The first part, refinement, is something that I am very passionate about. It is the core of what I want for me life. I want to be refined. But it comes at a price, just like everything else. The only way to be refined is to be in the fire. This fire is different for different people. For me it was, for a long time, living at home and dealing with all the things that came with living with my family. It was dealing with a lot of wounds and hurts. Refinement strips you down to the bare minimum. It allows for only the essentials to be in your life. It is hard and especially painful. Things are being burned off, after all.
Consumption is slightly different, yet connected. I have to be VERY careful how I word the thought process that is going on in my brain right now. This is one of those things that people don’t like to hear. I can pretty much assure you that this is going to come out wrong. So I am just going to say it. The definition of consume is pretty well know, to use up (basically).
After doing some thinking, I am not sure I like where my thought process is going. It is very possible that it is contrary to the consistant nature of God. I want to do some more thinking and praying about it…
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