Ember Keeper

This is from Audrey’s Most Read Posts and has been updated from its original publication in October 2018.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Isaiah 6:6-7

A golden fleece of evening sunlight spread over the gentle hills, inviting the village to slow down and rest after a dusty day’s work in the fields. The murmur of women and children as they exchanged their short-handled jembes for water buckets rose like a lullaby.

Wrapped in the commanding red linens of head wife, an old woman made her way slowly to a girl, flicking her wrist as she quietly instructed, “Fetch the ember.”

It was time to light the fires for the evening meal. Each day, one person preserved hot embers from the previous day’s fire. Everyone in the village knew who that person was. The ember-keeper was responsible for stewarding precious hot coals for starting the dinner fires. Wood was sparse in this remote area of East African bush country. Protecting the embers was an honorable and important responsibility, and the villagers depended upon it.

The young girl took off immediately, her bare feet kicking up red dust as she raced along the path that wound its way through her father’s fields.

Moments later, she reappeared, an ember carefully shielded in a metal bucket of ash. With reverence, the head wife slowly placed the contents on her cold outdoor fire pit. She carefully stacked small bits of precious wood on the pulsing orange cinder. Brow knit in concentration, she blew, patiently persuading the ember to grow hotter. The wood sprang to life, consumed by hungry flames.

The evening fire had begun.

As the sun journeyed behind the hills, a line formed, silhouetted against the bright flames. One by one, the village women borrowed from the now surging fire, each returning to start her own fire, light her lamps, and feed her family.

Since the time of the tabernacle in the wilderness, God has ordained light that never goes out. The golden lampstand in the tabernacle was a constant reminder that God was with his people. Twice daily, in the morning and evening, a priest attended to the wick and replenished the pure beaten olive oil for the lamps (see Exodus 30:7-8).

Then Jesus came, declaring in John 8:12,

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Immanuel, God with us, is the light that reminds us God is with his people and will never leave them. Jesus sealed the covenant between God and man forever.

Jesus is the Ember that removes all our wickedness and purges our sins.

In John 9:5, He makes the curious statement:

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no man can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Then in Matthew 5:14, Jesus said to his disciples,

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

It would seem from these words that the Light of the World passed on stewardship of that Light to His followers.

We are ember keepers. Jesus commissioned us to shine His light in the darkness.

Jesus has given his followers the task of stewarding the precious ember of #faith that brings light to a dark world. Share on X

How are you tending your ember today? Stoke your faith with daily time in Scripture, talking and listening to God. Fan the coals with the winds of praise and worship.

In the shadows, a line will form, people waiting to light their lamps and feed their souls with the light you have so carefully tended. Before you know it, the dark night will be dotted with light. Light that started from your ember.

Lord, help me steward Your light in me today. Make me shine brightly so those in darkness can light their lamps by Your flame in me. Amen.

@audreycfrank

Photo by Paul Bulai on Unsplash