Sh'mini (Eighth) Leviticus 9:1-11:47 2Samuel 6:1-19 Luke 7–9 Fire In The Camp As I read the Torah I thought back to my days in a Pentecostal church. On Sunday nights we were know to sing for hours on end. One of the favorite themes of the songs was the fire of God. We had many songs in the hymnal devoted to this wonderful theme of God sending His fire in our midst. As I look back on those days I also think how merciful He is to not answer our prayers at times. No doubt almost everyone in the room would have gone the way of Aaron's sons and been killed by the fire right there on the spot, if it had fallen. It would have made interesting news stories the next day, but I doubt any news media would have understood the reason for the deaths. In fact, none of us would have understood the reason in that day. None of us would have understood that we had brought God's judgment on ourselves for bringing what was unholy before God and calling it holy. Yes, many of us sang with the right intentions and maybe even a right heart. But because we did not understand Torah we now know that our lives of colored eggs, cut down trees and eating the unclean would have brought a very swift judgment if He had answered our prayer. He is truly a God of grace and compassion. For many of us our lives and lifestyles have changed dramatically over the months and years. We have seen the Torah in an entirely new light, which has caused many to throw off the ways of man and take on the ways of God, the ways of Torah. With this change though there is one thing that has not changed. We still have a longing for His fire. For we know that the same fire that took the lives of the sons of Aaron also revealed His presence (chap 9, vs 4). Yes, there is still a longing within the depths of many of God's people to not only walk in His ways, but to see Him, to know Him, and to experience His presence like no one ever has before. We search out the ways of Torah and make them part of our lives. With each year’s Torah readings we see new changes which must be made. We put on the new and put off the old. We yearn for the day in which our lives in Yeshua our Messiah will be in order and His fire can burn forth in our lives. With each passing word of Torah we continue to stand in amazement of His mercy and grace through the years to protect us from what we did not understand, but we wonder how much longer until we are ready. How long will it be before our lives are prepared to receive what our hearts have longed for through the years? How long before the day of preparation is over and the day of the reality of His fire is upon us? These are questions only HaShem knows; only He can answer. For us, we continue to read and pray for understanding and wisdom. We pray for the courage and strength to make the changes in our lives. Above all we pray that one day that fire will be brought forth in our lives, a fire that will bring forth His presence so His glory can truly be shown forth to a darkening world. Yes, that is what it is all about. The fire is not about us. It is not about our feelings, our emotions or anything else of our lives. The reason we long for His fire is to bring Him glory, so that through our very lives the world will see His power and His might. We long for our lives to be filled with Him so others may come to the place of decision. The fire in the camp of Moses was brought forth to separate the people. On that day it separated those who desired to live by His ways and those who desired to live by their own. The fire separated those who desired to see His glory and those who desired to see their own. The fire brought forth a fear and reverence for the One in which they served. It also brought forth a new love and appreciation for the One who now called them His own. I still long for the day of fire in the camp, but now I understand the reason He has waited to truly answer that longing these many years. He has done so in order to show forth His presence in a life of obedience, not His judgment which comes through a life of unholy fire. May obedience to this Torah reading bring us all one step closer to the day in which we can proclaim, "THERE IS FIRE IN THE CAMP, HIS FIRE!"