Observation of a piece of coal

I stayed in a 200 year old cottage for the weekend with a friend a few weeks ago. Heating is pretty basic there – a real fire. I took loads of things with me to do that weekend but instead, I found myself just watching the fire for hours…

A lump of coal is put onto the fire to produce heat but the coal is so resistant to being burned. It takes great effort to initially ignite the coal, needing to be placed directly over the flame before the energy stored within can be released as something useful in the form of heat. (N.B. energy is neither created or destroyed but can only change from 1 state to another e.g. potential energy > thermal energy.) It made me wonder why, when there is so much potential energy stored up in a lump of coal to be so useful that the coal is so resistant to burning? Then in the same breath, it made me wonder why, when God has placed so much potential in me, am I sometimes so resistant to God or what He wants do in my life? Somehow, it just seemed important to watch the coal.

In order for the coal to ignite, it needs to be placed directly over the flame where initially, the external dust and possibly any water vapour are removed by the flames and visibly travel up the chimney, but still, the coal resists the flames. It made me realize how easily the dust / water vapour could be mistaken for smoke but yet deep down within the coal, there is still no fire. How easy it is when God speaks to me for me to allow Him to mould and change the external things in my life that people can see and yet still sometimes keep God at arms length when He wants to work at something much deeper inside of me where it’s safe and others don’t see how much resistance I really am putting up to God.

As the coal heats up, it gradually begins to make noises. Sometimes the heat causes pressure to build up within the coal which may suddenly increase the noise. If the pressure gets too great then gas may be released under force from a weak area of the rock, seen like a jet of steam being released. This is often accompanied by an increase in noise and sometimes this gas is ignited by the flames around it too. It burns as a jet for a time and is then extinguished as the gas runs out. Often, the gas appears and disappears time and time again from the same point. Deceptively, it often seems as though all the gas has been expelled from the coal and then unexpectedly it erupts again, often noisily! And no matter how many times you think all the gas must now be gone, it can still surprise you and erupt again without warning. How many times in my life has pressure affected me, my thoughts, attitudes and behaviour patterns? Sometimes I moan about things / other people and let them get to me, sometimes I erupt with anger, frustration, etc. without warning and then look back at the devastation I have caused later. And all the time, God is longing for me to relax in the flame of His Holy Spirit and allow it to begin / continue working in the centre of my life, regenerating my perspective, my thoughts, attitudes and behaviour and yet instead, so many times, I push it away, thinking that I know best and the right way to handle things.

Gradually, the flames begin to lick around the piece of coal, the internal gases are now gone and the coal is no longer resistant to the flames. Through cracks which begin to appear in the coal, it becomes apparent that the coal has finally yielded to the flames, the glow on the inside is now visible and the heat is released. Isn’t that how God wants things to work with me? Rather than just allowing Him to change me from the outside, God wants the real work to begin with my heart, transforming me from within, unnoticed by those around me until gradually, enough has happened within me that others can’t help but notice the change in my life. But it is God that needs to remain my focus in all of this.

So much heat is released into the room as the coal yields to the purpose it was intended for and during that process, the coal itself is also transformed. What is the purpose God created me for? How much potential energy has God placed within me, just waiting to be released? What could God achieve in and through me if I stopped fighting and yielded to Him and His purposes? What is the transformation that God is longing to bring about in my life? Stepping into the flames may be scary and some things may hurt, but the flames of the Holy Spirit seek only to purify, not to destroy me and throughout, I am held by that incredible love of God.