God of Fire

So how do you picture God? Is the the old white man with a beard? How about a fierce warrior. I know, we are made in God's image but there is something finite about imagining God as a man.

I have another question. If you were describing fire to a blind man how would you do it? Hot, powerful? brilliant? Fire is difficult to describe. It can bring terrible destruction but it is also vital to life. Fire can consume, but it can also bring light. The shape of a flame is ever changing yet the flame of a candle is steady and true.

As humans we try to find many ways to describe God. Scripture to fire in this regard all throughout the old and new testament. The angel of God appeared to Moses as a fire in the burning bush. God guided the Israelites with a fiery pillar. Offerings were made to God through fire. Think about the tabernacle. There was a single candle outside the holy of holies that would point the way to the "Light of the World" that would come to shed light on the gift of salvation. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles as a flame. Ultimately, God has promised to destroy the world with fire.

The description is fitting for the very powerful provider of all light. It is fitting that God does not define himself in an inanimate object but in a leaving breathing force outside the finite human species. The next time you look at a camp fire or a fire in your hearth at home and feel the warmth on your face, no that God is with you; he will always provide warmth when the world is cold and he will always provide light in the darkest hours of our life.