This weekend, a couple of friends and I tried our hands at metalwork.  And I, for one, am pleased with the results.  We cut metal...with fire!  We heated steel until it glowed, and we could see the orange-red dance on it's surface.  We hammered the soft steel into the desired form.  We sweated.  We figured things out.  We were blacksmiths.  The fire in the forge was furious.  The heat in the coals wasn't just visible; it was vivid.  Even then, we knew that our improvised forge only provided a glimpse of fire's fury. God speaks of fire to give us an understanding of His wrath, His judgement, His jealousy.  Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us that "the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  Song of Solomon 8:6 teaches that "love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame."

We have not been abandoned or forgotten.  We are not languishing in the lighthouse, awaiting our beloved who was lost at sea.  He sees those who are His.  Our prayers reach Him as incense.  Never mistake His patience with the perishing for indifference toward us, who have entrusted ourselves to Him.  God speaks of His judgement in 2 Peter 3, and in verse 9, He reminds us that "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement..."