Biblically Speaking

As the Titus and the Roman Army laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD (which eventually ended in the complete destruction of the temple...no stone being left upon another), the Romans built a mound, battlements and a tower above a mine. The Romans had unknowingly established a stronghold on "sinking sand". They had no foundation even though everything looked formidable from the outside. The Jews were wise to this and snuck into the mine rather than merely attack the battlements and tower from above. In the mine, they covered the support beams with pitch and tar and set them afire. The fire smoldered for days (for lack of oxygen), but eventually the beams were sufficiently weakened. Finally, with no warning the mine collapsed and the battlements and tower came crashing into the resulting sink-hole with a roar. Also, the momentary free-flow of oxygen sent a blaze into the sky, but the fire was quickly extinguished by the crush of the earth and battlements. The Romans were terrified. The earth had opened up, revealed Hades, and swallowed up their strongholds.

The point is that we should be a people who goes out into the world lighting smoldering fires of truth in the vacuous foundations of the world's thinking. We don't need to rush the huge, iron-plate covered towers as they shoot arrows at us. We should rather speak words that light a smoldering flame under the foundation, and then pray that God fans the flames and sends along the right person to harvest when the tower comes crashing to the ground. This should be our constant approach to all of life. Sometimes we will be privileged to harvest, but more often we get to set fires.