Fan our flame and Make it burn HOT
“How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!”
(The Song of Solomon 4: 10 NASB)
How much better is your love than wine,
And the fragrance of your oils
Than all kinds of spices!”
- Why are those who are in the betrothal time and the first years of marriage more affectionate toward their beloved than those who are walking through the middle season of life?
- Why does the “domesticated” season of life have a way of dimming the flame? &
- It is possible to fan the flame into a “wildly hot” flame again, even after many days have passed?
The affection of one’s love toward the beloved burned brightly. What has caused it to flicker, to burn lower, and maybe even to have become almost snuffed out compared to the wild flame that once burned hot?
The Bible tells a story, of a time when a man, King David, desired to build an altar to worship God. As the king, he owned everything and could have commandeered anything withing his kingdom or taken any object from his subjects, for they belonged to him. However, in his action, we see something much different.
King David’s servant Araunah was threshing wheat on the top of a mountain, allowing the chaff to fly away in the wind, as the good grain fell to the threshing floor. The king knew where to find his servant and was cognizant that he had the supplies the king needed to build the altar he wished to build. That’s where we pick up reading from God’s Word.
“Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him;
(The 2nd Book of Samuel 24: 20-21 NASB)
and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.
Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?
And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you,
in order to build an altar to the LORD,
that the plague may be held back from the people.”
King David owned the entire kingdom, and he owned the servants who worked for him. He had no need to purchase what he already owned, but he did just that.
“Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering,
(The 2nd Book of Samuel 24: 22-24a NASB)
the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.
Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price,
for I will not offer burnt offerings
to the LORD my God
which cost me nothing.”
- What does our offering to the LORD cost?
- Are we willing to offering something that costs us nothing?
- Are we willing to sacrifice a full day’s wage, a full month’s wage, or even an entire annual wage in devotion to the LORD our God?
- Are we willing to offer something precious, something costly to the One who gave Himself on the cross, who paid the price of our sins with His life?
Make our lives an offering LORD, to YOU.
May our affection, Lord, become wild toward you.
May Your bride, Your church, not become domesticated in our love, in our serving, in our affection toward You, but help us become wild in our love and devotion as we follow YOU.
Lord, fan our flame.
Make it burn HOT, for YOU!