Jesus’ eyes are like a flame of fire (Rev 1:14). Let Him look at your life to show you what’s fireproof.
Reading through the latter half of Deuteronomy 4, we are coming to the end of Moses’ first address to the people on the plains of Moab. These are very solemn words! He not only looks back to God’s great deliverance in bringing them “out of the iron furnace” of Egypt (v 20), but of their future scattering among the nations because they fell back into godless idolatry. “The Lord will scatter you among the peoples” (v 27), Moses warned. God does not have two sets of rules! By the time He allowed Assyria and Babylon to take Israel away from the land they were just about to enter, they were as corrupt as the Canaanites that God had judged by them. Just as the Exodus coincided with God’s judgment on Canaan, so the rise of Assyria and Babylon coincided with His judgment on Israel and Judah. In this context, Moses declares, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire” (v 24). This verse is applied to the modern day in Hebrews 12:29. What does it mean? First, you cannot come into contact with God and remain unchanged. Second, that change occurs in two very different ways—He will either judge you or purify you. The same fire that consumes wood, hay, and stubble also purges gold and silver. And, as we sing, “The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.” Notice, in the same section we also read, “When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice…He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them” (vv 30-31). The fire that burns away all that dishonors is tempered in grace, “for the Lord your God is a merciful God” (v 31).