A Brand Plucked From the Fire
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Have you ever had an experience where you knew God interceded on your behalf and rescued you from certain calamity? Three days after I was born, the doctor found a heart murmur, assumed my parents could not afford surgery, decided I should not be adopted, and placed me in foster care. My prospective praying parents did not give up and asked for a court hearing. Seven weeks later, I was officially adopted. My parents, envisioning the larger picture, said, “God placed you in our home, and you have value and purpose for God.” The verses in Zechariah 3:1, 2 are interesting: Verse 1 describes us in our sinful condition and shows that wherever we are standing, Satan is there to accuse us. However, it is exciting to see what happens in verse 2. The Lord answers for us! “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! . . . Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’ ” (ESV). Matthew Henry’s Commentary states, “A converted soul is a brand plucked out of the fire by a miracle of free grace, therefore shall not be left a prey to Satan. Joshua appears as one polluted, but is purified.” We have such honor to be as a brand plucked from the fire. There is a great story of John Wesley, who helped found the Methodist Church in England. When he was a young child, his house caught fire. In the rush to escape, everyone ran out except John. Knowing they had to act quickly, neighbors stood on each others’ shoulders and broke the window, frantic to rescue him. Later, his mother, Susanna Wesley, would always refer to him as “a brand plucked out of the burning.” We, too, are “a brand plucked from the fire” that God holds in His hand.
Diane Pestes
