Some twenty-five years ago, a dearly beloved person in my life shared a story with me that changed my life. Her meaning in telling the story was to help me understand that God had everything I needed to put out the fire of the painful trial I was experiencing at that time.
The story took place during a time when she was living in the desert in Southern California. Her house was on a bluff from which she had an expansive view of the desert valley. One day, while she was enjoying that view from her porch, she could see a fire engine streaming along the floor of the desert valley. On the horizon to her left was a burning house.
There are no fire hydrants in the rural desert, of course. The fire engines that come to the rescue in these situations are pumper trucks carrying everything that is needed for the emergency: water and pumps to deliver the water. In this case, the resources did not reach the emergency. The fire engine’s urgent progress was stopped at the end of the valley because the road was washed out. It sat there, at the place of no passage, while the evacuated house burned to the ground.
Many of us have fires burning on the horizon of our souls. They are fires of fear, of discouragement, of physical distress, of emotional wounds, of loss, of circumstantial demand, of longing after contentment. Frantically, we search for what will extinguish these fires. We pick up squirt guns, garden hoses, and even gasoline cans (we’ll try anything!) and aim them toward the infernos. The fires burn on and even flare up (gasoline doesn’t work well in putting out fires!) as our own efforts to extinguish them fail.
However, our souls were not created to burn to the ground! God sails down the road with the pumper truck and all the resources we need! How graciously He invites us to come to Him and He will give us rest (Matthew 11). How tenderly He fulfills His promise to quench our thirst when we drink living water (John 4). How faithful He is to guard our hearts and minds with peace when we pray (Phil. 4). However, we are called to come, to find, and to pray. God supplies everything we need for the fires in our souls. We are called to learn, by God’s grace, to clear the road to our souls for the delivery of His supply.
John the Baptist says, “Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’” May we, by God’s grace alone, learn to repair those washed out places in the road between us and God—places washed out by doubt in God’s supply, by seeking solutions that are not of God, by simply not turning to God for His supply. As we keep the road clear and passable, God has all the resources we need to put out the fires of the trials we face!
