Fire of God

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

FIRE OF GOD

Judges 6:17-24

17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return." 19 Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. 20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. 21 With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." 24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

NIV

It is not too often an angel of the LORD shows up with a message, and this angel, whoever he is, was willing to sit and wait for Gideon to prepare an offering. Interestingly, the preparation of this offering had to take quite some time as he had to slaughter a young goat, then do whatever was needed to get the meat and make unleavened bread. We can only imagine it took hours, and the angel of the LORD just waited. However, when Gideon did show up with his meat, bread, and broth, the angel told him to put it all on the rock, and when the angel of the LORD touched the rock with his staff, fire consumed all the offering. Now, here is where we find something amazing. Two different Hebrew words were used here for rock. Both can mean figurative stone rock, such as one that would be used as an altar. However, they are also used for God, as in Yahweh is Refuge, and the stronghold of Jehovah. We have said it ourselves that Jesus is our Rock, our Refuge, our great tower, our stronghold, and our fortress. The angel of the LORD caused fire to pour out of the rock to consume Gideon’s offering. Will not God consume all we offer him? Of course, we do not need to offer goats, unleavened bread, and broth, as in some physical offering, but we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is our spiritual act of worship. We would then believe God would consume all of us, at least in a metaphorical way, and he would do it with fire, just as the flames of fire were on  the disciples as the Holy Spirit came upon or within them. Again, in a metaphorical, yet also physical way, we have the fire of God within us. But we first must offer ourselves to the Rock of ages, the Lord God Almighty, unabashed, holding nothing back, putting all of ourselves to Jehovah shalom, the God of peace. Jesus has given us his peace. We have the shalom of Jehovah, but also the fire of God within us.