Heated Times

Hebrews 13:5 – He himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." (NASB)

I well remember watching the clock as a child. The times I remember the most are those when Mom was baking cookies or a cake. Mother would tell us it would be another five minutes before the cookies were done. Oh, the aroma coming from the oven! It seemed like an eternity before those five minutes ticked slowly by and the cookies were out of the oven. Of course, they were then too hot to eat. After they were taken off the cookie sheet, I still had to wait longer for them to cool a bit before popping one into my mouth. How I wish I could have sped up the process! The truth is that if I could have, the cookies would not have been baked completely. They would still have been a bit raw, a bit doughy, maybe a bit harsh. The finished product would not have been the same.

So too in our lives. We all go through a baking process. Each one of our baking processes is different. Some of us go through financial stress, or relational stress, or emotional stress, or health issues. I think that all of these things are a baking time in our lives. When we are going through those times, how we wish we could speed it up to get to the other side where there is peace and contentment and joy. If we were able to speed it up, then I am afraid the finished product would not be the same. We would not be baked completely. We would be a bit raw, a bit doughy, a bit harsh maybe. It could frustrate God's work of grace in our lives. It could certainly harm the process, not help it.

John 12:25 – In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal. (MSG)

Let's surrender to those baking times in our lives. Let's be willing to stay in the oven as long as God needs us to be. We know that God is with us even during those heated times in our lives.

As in the song by Winfield S. Weeden:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, baking times are hard for us. Those times in the oven never seem to end. The time seems like it is going to go on forever. We cry out to You today to give us the endurance we need, the faith we need, the strength we need to go through the heat. Thank You that You will never leave us nor forsake us. Help us to cling to Your truths. Amen.

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