She's Kissed by Fire

Every season you go through will reveal your view of God, where an idol in your life is challenged.

Since time imemorial, human beings have been hardwired to crave and pursue the good things — such as stability, calm, and comfort in all areas of life, and that’s a well known fact.

After all, we are made in the likeness of God. And God is a Perfect Being and a God of Order.

This is where if we look at other people’s lives, we often see them pursue things which bring quality and alignment to them and the life they are building around themselves.

Some of the are building their own business brands, which can financially secure their families in the long run, and at the same time, provide the comfort of working at their own time, being their own boss.

Others, try to stereotypically work in a corporate job and save up for the rainy days, in which, also works in most people I know.

In the human health setting, a lot of people in this day and age are getting fit and working out despite their busy schedules left and right.

I’d like to think that some are just after social gatherings with the community they have created but more often than not, these very people are being vigilant about their health and the reason again for it is to create some safety net when they get older so they don’t have to suffer the diseases of old age or at least delay their aging.

So whether it is building the family’s financial safety net or taking care of one’s health or craving for a stable environment, it is an innate human desire that helps us cushion the blow of life in case the natural order of things get disrupted in this fallen world.

So if God is a God of Light and Order, why does He allow protection to be removed from his beloved children?

I have been a follower of this great Christian Youtuber podcaster named Taylor Welch and he discussed something that strucked my attention about the Idol of Safety, the types of fears and how surviving suffering can bring more blessings in life.

I’ll try to breakdown the most important topics I got from that episode.

According to him , there are 3 reasons why a hedge of protection is removed from a person…

1. To allow spiritual growth to flourish (Wisdom)
   • A classic example is Job’s story in the Bible. His sufferings led him to Spiritual growth on top of His redemption and riches which God had multiplied after passing the hard season of losing everything.
2. To serve as proof
   • The story of Job was enough proof not only for him, but for his friends, wife and all people who doubted God. When God allows pain, he will allow it not to destroy us but to prune, perfect and refine us. Then when He’ll redeem us, He will give double for our trouble.
3. To experience God’s Revelation
   • Jesus had to learn obedience as a Man of Flesh even if He knew everything, to learn obedience.
     • Hebrews 5:8 – “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
     • The text says that even though Jesus was Son of the Most High, he had to learn obedience through the things he suffered. In this regard, He was qualified by God as the Perfect High Priest and became the Source of Eternal Salvation for all those who obey Him.
     • Jesus is praying and God is listening and Jesus Himself is learning what it looks like to obey from not receiving an answer.
   • Other known personalities and references in the Bible that have different revelations of God are the ff:
     • Scenario 1: Numbers 14, 20 — The Rebellion at Kadesh Barnea
       • This is the text where the Israelites that have been exiled from Egypt, are about to enter the Promised Land have been grumbling against Moses’ leadership and did not trust the journey to the Promise Land.
       • Their famous words contained the great frustration they feel at the time “and the people complained and grumbled and said ‘the Lord has brought us out here to kill us.’”
       • The same group of people complained 6 chapters further where food shortage and water added on top of the exhaustion they feel from the journey.
       • So Moses, in his anger, instead of speaking to the rock, has striked the rock twice. Disqualifying him from entering the Promise Land.
       • In both instances, God is giving the Revelation to Moses and the Israelies that He is truly the one leading all of them and even Moses, with His great leadership skills, can still be incompetent at times.
     • Scenario 2: Story of Gideon
       • Gideon doubted God’s decision to reduce his army down to 300 men. He thought he and his army was abandoned by God.
       • But God allowed him to win the battle with only just the 300 men alongside him.
       • God’s Revelation to Gideon was He will never leave them abandoned and to show that nothing is impossible for Him.
     • Scenario 3: Story of David
       • David is considered the Man after God’s own Heart. He earned this title after a series of failures as a young ruler, devastating personal tragedies and moral failures which caused him great heartbreaks and inner turmoil.
       • But amidst all of it, he was given the title because he actively sought God’s will in everything he did with an unwavering faith.
       • His revelation of God remained pure in the middle of his crises.

Taylor has also discussed some good points about suffering..

Inoculation through pain and suffering is basically going through a season that is not safe, to which, suffering and lack of protection are experienced that forces you to build back up from that point and produces a differet person prior to it.

To suffer well means to get a cumulative benefit in your life and sometimes, a hedge of protection is removed to give you revelation, give you proof, and to give you wisdom and staying power.

So with everything discussed, do we believe God allows us to be positioned in a chaotic, unfruitful place that He needs us to be for a time so we can realize something that we only could learn in the dark?

If I were to give my honest and personal take on it, I would say yes.

Some of the bigger and most important things in life you can never learn just by theory alone and we have to walk our flesh and bone through some of the most uncomfortable seasons to really understand how it is being in a certain position and eventually, could lead other people from those experiences.

The idol of safety is such a comforting thought for us but staying in the safe zone doesn’t show the power of God in our lives.

So if we hit a brick wall, a crossroad or stumbled on a dark path in our lives, we can trust that it’s not the end.

God is always working for us to reach the best versions of ourselves, and sometimes, like pruning the branches of the tree that no longer produce fruits, stripping us of our comforts could be the only way to do it.

But only, if we allow Him to.