Sometime before Christmas, I got a gift from my ‘secret Santa’ that included a sleep mask, pillow spray, bath foam, lotion, and scented candles.

The song ‘Bow Down’ by Bishop Paul Morton had been on my mind for a while. These exact words playing over and over –

Consuming fire, sweet perfume

Your awesome presence feels this room

So, when I saw the candles the words came back to me again. I wondered how ‘consuming fire’ and ‘sweet perfume’ could be in the same verse.

My colleague came late to work on Thursday the 3rd of January. Her major route had been shut down due to a fire that engulfed a major restaurant on that road. The smoke from the fire was so much that my manager could see it from the corner of the office block. She was hoping it was not close to us when she went to check. Then she realized the burning building was far away. Luckily no lives were lost but there was a lot of property damage.

Again, the lyrics played in my mind-

Consuming fire, sweet perfume

Your awesome presence feels this room

It got me thinking about how awesome God is. Remembering the words of Billy Humphrey in his book, ‘To know Him’, he said:

God has placed us in the arena of life with a loaded set of circumstances, all of which continually beckon to us of Himself. Like walking through an art gallery, admiring the handiwork of the masters displayed on pedestals and in portraits, all the channels of life declare the knowledge and nature of God. He made everything to tell us about Himself.

When I looked at the pictures of the Big John’s building, I remembered the scriptures I had read describing God as a consuming fire. Exodus 24:17 described the ‘glory’ of God as a consuming fire that surrounded the mountain in which God had called Moses too.

Imagine the intense heat coming from wild fire and the flames dancing before your eyes. You can’t restrain yourself from holding up your hands to your face. It’s just like when I open the oven suddenly after leaving it on for a while to grill my chicken. The sudden heat that comes at me makes me flinch. It’s so intense.

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 and Deuteronomy 9:3 in the New King James Version describe God as consuming fire- a jealous God and protector. The 2018 Netflix movie, Mowgli, showed the village people defending themselves from the wild tiger by lighting a fire by night. They (the tiger and hyenas) feared the light and heat from the flames so they stayed away from the village or risked getting burnt.

The way to enjoy the glory and the protection is dwelling in the presence of the one who is the source of both. God declared himself to Jerusalem:

Zechariah 2:5 (NLT)

Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the LORD. And I will be the glory inside the city!'”

This is a promise to everyone who chooses to be God’s people.

One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV) as it talks about giving thanks to God for giving me victory.  But it also mentions another reason to be thankful and something that I also pray about:

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Savour- a pleasant smell. The NLT version interprets it as a ‘sweet perfume’.

I know a lot of people who use scented candles. It’s a wonderful relaxation factor. It helps you sleep at night. Helps you relax in the bath and relieves stress. I do not know if it is medically proven, but I guess the effects are similar to burning incense. It creates a different environment.

The same goes for being in the presence of God. It gives you peace.

Once you light a scented candle, It gives off a sweet smelling fragrance to the room. In science, we call it diffusion. The air around smells and feels different.

Songs of Solomon 1:12 (AMP)

“While the king was at his table,
My perfume (Solomon) sent forth [his] fragrance [surrounding me].

The scent penetrates your clothes and your hair. It’s like a woman cooking for hours. Once you’re done you come out of the kitchen smelling like onions and oil. You can’t get away from it unless you have a bath.

Dwelling in the presence of God not only rubs off on us. But perforates everything and everyone around us. The fragrance of the knowledge of God is spread by us. We become witnesses

 

SHALOM

Bible References:

Exodus 24:17  To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 9:3 Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo References: Photo by Raquel raclette on Unsplash Photo by Mohammad Bagher Adib Behrooz on Unsplash