Stir the Fire
Stir the Fire
Could these words be yours?
Oh Lord, you deceived me … you overpowered me … I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me … the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fir.…
That complaint was lifted right out of the Book of Jeremiah—from the lips of the prophet himself. Jeremiah was sick and tired of his “religious fanatic” label. He was fed up with the ridicule, rejection, and insults. The gossip was just too much for him.
Maybe you’ve said or thought something similar. Believe me, you’re not the first to say to God, “Hey, I don’t need this grief. I’m not going to bring up the Bible anymore. I’m not going to talk about God—and then maybe these people will lighten up!” Others have felt the sting and scorn to the point of saying, “I’m not even going to mention His name anymore.”
I’ve felt that way. Shortly after the accident which paralyzed me, I took a stab at witnessing in the hospital. I talked about Christ with a couple of paraplegics who used to hang around the elevator in their wheelchairs at the end of my floor. They sat there, puffing cigarettes, disinterested, easily distracted. I tried telling them how God was helping me out of my own depression, but I could tell they were just tolerating me until I moved on. I could feel the resentment from those guys whenever I’d pass them by the elevator. I can remember thinking, Fine. Telling people about God has only brought me more grief——as if I didn’t have enough.
I felt just like Jeremiah. Overpowered.
But there was something else about the prophet I identified with. After he had dumped his bucket on the Lord, crying out his hurt and resentment, he came back to a basic fact: “Lord, You know that even if I wanted to stop speaking Your Name I couldn’t do it. Your Word is in my heart and it’s burning like a fire.”
I thank God He kept the fire burning in that prophet’s heart. And in my heart, too.
Do you feel the fire—deep in your spirit? Even though the ridicule and gossip seem to throw a damper on it? Even though you feel shunned and rejected for talking about your Lord?
If you sense that burning, that nudging and urging to keep sharing God’s Word, don’t let it be quenched by your discouragement and fears. Stir the fire! Fan the flames! As Paul wrote to his friends, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
Even if those flames within you have dwindled to a single, lonely coal—just a faint glimmer—you still have the makings of a fire.
Don’t let anybody throw water on it!