Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15,
2014): Ezekiel 22
Nascar’s
Brad Keselowski is still taking heat for the fourteen car crash that occurred on
the lap 137 at Talladega over a week ago. The issue does not seem to be that it
was Keselowski’s aggressive driving that caused the pile up – although drivers
would like him to ease up a just a little bit. The real issue seems to be that
Keselowski was still driving aggressively even though he was six laps down and
essentially out of the race – especially since Keselowski was that far behind
in the race because of another contact that he had made earlier in the day.
Some of the big names of the sport would simply like Keselowski to learn the
difference between driving aggressively when the race was still in doubt and
driving aggressively when there is no possibility of winning – or even placing
in the important top ten of the race.
But as far
as Keselowski is concerned, if he is on the track and has a steering wheel in
his hands, he wants to compete to the best of his abilities. To be honest, this
is the attitude of a winner. In any other sport, we want to see our teams
compete until the final whistle no matter how lopsided the score might be. But
for now, Keselowski is not being afforded that option – for now, he continues
to absorb the heat from his fellow Nascar drivers.
But what we
sometimes miss is that heat (and fire) often come with two very different
outcomes. One is to destroy. In Keselowski’s case, it would mean that he either
gives up or doesn’t drive the way he needs to drive in order to win. The
absolutely worst thing that could happen is that as Keselowski takes the driver’s
seat he begins to second guess his decisions in the race. If that happens, the
reality is that we will begin to see more crashes in the race that center
around the beleaguered driver. There is a level of assertiveness that is
absolutely required for anyone who desires to race – and without that
assertiveness the driver will actually become more of a danger on the track.
But the second purpose of fire is to cleanse. Here destruction is not the
prupose, fire simply causes the impurities within something to be removed. For
Keselowski, personally this is what I hope ends up happening – not that he
would be destroyed, but rather that he would emerge as a better and more
competitive Nascar driver as a direct result of the heat and scrutiny that he
now seems to be under.
Biblically,
it is often hard to tell the difference between these two fires. But it seems
that often the biblical use of fire is for the second purpose and not the
first. Some have even argued that the fires of Revelation which we often take
as purely destructive are really intended to have a purification aspect.
But in
Ezekiel, the author really leaves us no doubt. Even though we are told that it
is God’s wrath that has burned toward Israel, this is not about the destruction
of the nation – it is about purification and making something better out of
what has come before. And the clue is that Ezekiel speaks about the melting of
silver, a melting which is done very purposefully for purification reasons. While
all that happens during the exile is done out of God’s wrath, the overwhelming
message is that God is not done with Israel yet. He has more in store for his
people. God’s intention was – and still is to burn away everything that does
not belong so that it is only the pure us, which is actually the real us, that
is left.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel
23
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