“…an offering made by fire,
of sweet savour unto the Lord.”
Leviticus 23:18

Here’s an example, one of so many, of how God speaks to us through his Word. As I read the passage above, suddenly a memory came back to my mind. Many years ago I was in a situation that was the hardest and most painful of my life, and at that time I reminded the Lord that he had said to me once before, “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.” “But here I am, Lord,” I said, “destroyed. My life is destroyed.”

“No”, he said. “Go open the wood stove.”

“Huh???”

“I said go open the wood stove.”

So I got up and went and opened the door to the wood stove. He asked me what I saw.

“The fire is out and there’s a piece of wood in there all black and burned up.”

“Can that piece of wood be ever used again?” he asked me.

“No of course not,” I answered.

“That piece of wood has been destroyed by the fire. But you aren’t destroyed. You will be used again.”

I had long forgotten about that day so many years ago, but when I read this passage in Leviticus and the Lord “quickened” it to me, I suddenly saw after all these years that when we are in the fire praising God, it is “an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord.” Understanding that changes everything.

God is pleased when we worship him, but how much more when we worship him when we’re “in the fire.” There could be nothing more pleasing to God than a heart that still loves him no matter what.”