Scripture: Genesis 37:18-20
I was cruising up I-81 in the blue-gray predawn from my home near Radford to my office in Staunton. Suddenly, I found myself choking in dense smoke. Somewhere near the highway a brush fire raged! I couldn’t see it, but the fire, fanned by the strong winds, belched acrid smoke across the highway. It was frightening to drive near the fires because they can leap across highways and the smoke is as blinding as fog.
Brush fires—it’s another name for wildfires that spread fast and get out of control. On average, wildfires burn 4.3 million acres in the United States annually. In recent years the federal government has spent $1 billion a year on fire suppression. 2002 was a record year for fires with major fires charring Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oregon.
But what causes these fires? Naturally we think of lightening or arson or campfires and often a careless cigarette flicked from a passing car as the culprits. But to get the kind of fires that destroy millions of acres each year those sparks, if you will, need some help. I did some searching and found some interesting facts about brush fires that you may not be aware of:
The Amazing Facts About Brush Fires
The evaporation of water from plants is usually balanced by water absorbed from the soil. As long as this balance is maintained, things are ok. However, when the moisture balance drops below this threshold, say, in a drought, the plants dry out and under such environmental stress, release the flammable gas ethylene.
As a consequence of a long hot and dry period, there is a massive buildup of flammable ethylene in the air, and the drying plants become highly flammable wicks in the combustible atmosphere. When that cigarette is tossed or lightening strikes—Boom!
Something to Think About
As I drove past the fires on my two hour trek to work, I had time to think about all the fires in the news at the time and then the Lord began to speak to my mind about statements James made regarding the tongue. He compared it to a highly destructive fire. This made me think of my own life. For years I wrestled with my own volatility. It took time, prayer and a lot of charred relationships before I came upon the solution. Anger, resentment, bitterness and an unforgiving heart made me a walking, human brush fire who created a combustible atmosphere wherever I went. I know that I was not alone in this condition. Many people who will read this are in the same smoldering condition waiting for the disaster to strike.
I found that life is a constant battle with brush fires. No, not the kind that burns millions of acres of grass and trees, but the kind that scorches millions of lives--The kind that tears up homes and blasts churches of all kinds to bits. Brush fires—though the start can be imperceptible, the finish can be devastatingly public. We need to identify the ingredients of the human type before they become raging infernos.
Just like the field variety of brush fire, human brush fires need three things to work:
1. Fuel: Dry spiritual lives emitting combustible attitudes and creating a volatile environment
2. Wind: troubles, discouragement, jealousy, envy, hate, covetousness, bitterness, an unforgiving heart.
3. A Spark: words, a big disappointment, someone getting something you wanted for yourself, a wrong look, an injustice, an accident
Boom! The Incendiary Dream.
The Bible talks a lot about human brush fires. Look at Genesis 37; in this chapter, Joseph’s brothers were in for a major brush fire. These 11 men had all the ingredients necessary to burn their world. They were spiritually dry and spreading the flammable ethylene of godlessness. Chapters 35-36; Heb 12:15 (bitterness defiling many) Around them swirled the strong winds of jealousy and bitterness and Joseph’s dreams provided the spark.
We all are close to brush fires. Someone reading this only needs a spark and the fire is on. Some are in the midst of a fire now and are powerless to bring it under control.
For some, your lives are being eaten away by the flames of bitterness. You know you need to be free, but you can’t stop indulging the sick pleasure of hate and your strong desire for vengeance and justice. You don’t just want justice to happen, you want to exact that vengeance yourself.
The Ugly Truth
This is where the ugly truth comes in: Your bitterness that has fanned the fires of hatred and division is not really against the person with whom you say you’re angry; it is against God. If you were secure in the love of God, you would rest in your contentment with the path he has chosen for you. You would have compassion on the one who hurt you and pray that he or she would find the contentment and peace you have found.
But when you are bitter against God, You determine that you must make up for the opportunities he is making you miss by his inaction. Your God is weaker than you, less wise than you, so you must do the job now or the object of your bitterness will get away with murder! Look at Cain in Genesis 4. His bitterness was not against Abel; it was against God. Abel was accessible.
What Should We Do?
How do we escape the brush fires--the wildfires of bitterness and rage against God?
1. Confess our bitterness against Him to Him. Tell Him what we wanted from him and why we are mad at Him.
2. Confess our lack of contentment with His way. He won’t be surprised. He can smell the ethylene of discontent all over us.
3. Acknowledge that we have taken out our frustrations on the people He loves.
4. Ask for His forgiveness.
5. Reduce the fuel—The water of God’s word will take away the dryness.
6. Get out of the wind—Bitterness blows through life like a hurricane.
The Bible warns about it: Ps 37:7-8, Ephesians 4:31
7. Dump the matches-- The greatest spark is from angry words erupting from an unguarded tongue.
James 3.
All of these fixes require supernatural power. Acknowledge the problem then ask for help in ridding yourself of the fuel. Most important, seek earnestly for the water of life to spring up in you to keep the balance of spiritual moisture right. This will help clear the air of the combustible fumes that cause so much hurt in our world. God is able to douse the brush fires and ignite the flame of Christian love in your heart right now!
