Charred

For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalm 37:28 NKJV

Have you ever felt like you’ve been burned?

Sometimes I have. 

I recently started watching a show called Life Below Zero and found it fascinating how those people live remote areas of Alaska. I searched YouTube to see if there were any shows on there and I found one I like called Simple Living Alaska and I found another one called My Self Reliance. 

My Self Reliance is about a guy in a remote area of Ontario, Canada who lives who lives off the grid. What grabbed my attention for his show, is he has an episode where he does a time lapse of him building his log cabin with nothing but hand tools. I’m a woodworker and I found in fascinating how he did that with hand tools. He doesn’t do any talking in the episode. It just shows him working. The guy has a lot of patience and superb skills. He used a gas-powered lumber mill to mill the trees he cut down, but that was the only power tool he used.

One thing he did that intrigued me was he charred the beams he used as the foundation beams. He had a propane tank and a torch attached to it and burned the outside of the beams until they had a good char on them. I knew there had to be a purpose for that, so I looked it up and found it’s an ancient way of preserving wood. Once it’s burned, the wood is left to cool and harden. This creates a carbon layer that protects it from rot, insects, and weather damage.. You could say it develops a thick skin.

It reminded me of when I went through Army basic training. We had to face a lot of difficulties during Army basic training as the drill sergeants pushed us beyond our limits. I discovered I could do more and withstand more than I thought possible. They were charring us. They even had times where they said they needed to smoke us. That meant the next thirty minutes or so we would do push-ups, sit-ups, side straddle hops, mountain climbers, and any other exercise they could think of. 

It was amazing to see the transformation from week one to week eight when we graduated basic training. The basic training made us hardened and confident. All the demands of Army life didn’t bother us anymore. We had developed a thick skin. We had developed a firm resolve during basic training, which prepared us to face our duty in combat without flinching. 

The same thing happens in our walk with God. Jesus even told us in John 16:33 we would have tribulation but to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. There are many other verses about us going through hardships in this life, but through it all, He is right there with us. 

Those hardships, difficulties, distresses, and tragedies charr us. They test our faith and prove our faith can be trusted. Spiritually, we develop a thick skin.

After he let the beams cool for a day, he put some oil on them and it penetrated the wood to add more protection. Then he laid a vapor barrier on the ground and then laid the beams on it. 

Many times, I have felt like I was getting burned by life, but I kept reading the Bible and talking to God. It felt like His Word was penetrating deep inside and I knew He was preserving me. The cares and concerns of this life can’t penetrate and eat away my faith in God. It has been preserved. 

It took the guy two years to build his cabin and even then, there were still small things he needed to do to finish it out. It amazed me at how much patience and perseverance he had to do all that work by hand, but his passion is to live off the grid and as close to nature as possible. 

We are God’s passion and He never grows weary in completing His work in us. Let Him char you and preserve you and have His way with you. He will complete the good work He’s started in you.