Beyond the Fire

Yesterday, as I listened to Through the Fire by Andrew Blooms, I couldn’t help but stop and think at these lyrics: “If I walked through the fire, will I gain my heart’s desire, or will I just be burned?” It just hit me. This is the question. As I reflect on the cost of following my dreams, living by my values, and generally experiencing the broken world we’re living in, I remember how as humans we can ensure nothing. We can never predict future damage. As the Proverbs 14:12 warns us, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” No matter how good we try to be, only God knows where we are going.

Then I remember how none of us even has the bandwidth to fully follow our dreams, act according to our values, and live to our best abilities in this broken world. Not only can we not achieve the perfect life because of our powerlessness to control the future, but also because of the moral, intellectual, and physical limitations which hinder us along the way. This, I do not like.

However, the more I think of it, the more I believe the idea of my limitations can help soothe my anxiety. At first, limitations can seem scary. What happens when we can’t control what happens? Our palms get sweaty, our stomachs turn, and life gets that much more impossible to enjoy. It can’t be the way life is supposed to be.

But what if it were how life is supposed to be? What if we are supposed to feel incapable of life, of success, of joy? What if it is in a state of total humility where we recognize how much we can’t do on our own and thus find God?

Our lot is not hopeless. No matter how many earthly riches we do not have, we always have access to God and to His unending love. He is the God who lifts our faces. He changes everything.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:6

I’m not saying it’s not scary or sad or horrible, but it’s not the end. It is God’s promise that when we humble ourselves before Him, He will lift us up. He will not leave us. Thank God for our weaknesses, limitations, and inabilities, for in all these things God longs to provide what we need. He long to give us Heaven. He longs to give us Himself.

Thanks be to God. All we have to do is say, “Yes, I want to receive that gift. I believe that Jesus died and rose again to atone for my sins. I believe in Jesus.” Amen. This is our future. This is what lies beyond the fire.