What the Fire Couldn't Destroy

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Have you ever looked at an area of your life and wondered if it was simply too far gone for God to make something new?

I certainly have. There have been times when I’ve looked at the state of a situation and felt hopeless. Instead of allowing God to define what was possible, I allowed what I could see in front of me to determine what I believed about the outcome. Without even noticing it, disappointment turned into distance, apathy, anger, and sometimes even hopelessness.

Recently, as I was reading Nehemiah, one particular question caught my attention. In Nehemiah 4:2, Sanballat mocks the Jews as they rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and asks, “Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”

Think about that question for a moment. Sanballat was looking at the condition of what remained. There was rubble. There were burned stones. From his perspective, what they had to work with was too damaged to become anything useful again. His question carried a lie that I think many of us have believed at one point or another: “My life—or one area of my life—is too far gone for God to make something new.”

As I sat with this verse, I started thinking about the imagery of something being burned. A question came to mind: Could you actually make something new out of a burned tree trunk?

So, I started researching.

Think about what happens to a tree after it has gone through a fire. Its original appearance may be gone. Its shape may have changed. It may have lost some of its strength. The tree standing after the fire may look nothing like the tree that stood there before it. Yet, as I researched what happens to trees after fire, I discovered something beautiful: a burned tree can bear new life.

And suddenly, I couldn't stop thinking about what that could teach us about walking through our own fires.

There Can Still Be Life Underneath

One of the first things I learned is that some trees have dormant buds hidden underneath their bark. Even after a fire has passed through and damaged what is visible on the outside, those protected buds can produce new growth.

Immediately, I thought about God's Word hidden in our hearts.

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

There are things God plants within us before we ever know we are going to need them. A Scripture you memorized years ago can suddenly become the truth you cling to during a difficult season. Something God taught you when life felt peaceful may become an anchor when everything around you feels uncertain. Sometimes, the outside of our lives may look burned while God has been preserving something underneath the surface all along.

That also brought Isaiah 43:1–2 to mind: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Notice that God doesn't say we will never walk through the fire. He promises that the fire will not have the final word over us.

As I thought about the layers of a tree protecting the living tissue underneath, I also thought about the Holy Spirit protecting and sustaining us through the fires of life. Philippians 4:7 tells us about the peace of God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. What a beautiful picture: circumstances can be raging around us while God is doing a protecting and sustaining work within us.

There may be seasons when you cannot see what God is doing, but that doesn't mean there isn't life underneath.

Your Roots Matter

The second thing I discovered was just as beautiful. Even when the trunk and canopy of a tree are badly burned, the roots underneath the ground may remain alive. Some trees, including oaks, can send new shoots from the base of a burned stump, beginning a new cycle of growth from the surviving root system.

When I read this, I immediately thought about the importance of our roots.

Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. Scripture repeatedly uses the imagery of plants and trees to describe what happens when our lives are connected to God. Psalm 1 describes a person rooted in God as a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

The visible parts of our lives can change dramatically. Circumstances change. Relationships change. Plans change. Dreams sometimes change. We change.

But where our roots are planted matters.

When our lives are rooted in Christ, our source of life is not found in the circumstances surrounding us. We remain connected to Him as we walk with Christ, fill our hearts and minds with His Word, pray, worship, and continually return to His presence.

Sometimes, what appears destroyed above the surface doesn't tell you what is still alive underneath it.

The Rebirthing of the Forest

But then I came across a third way a burned tree can contribute to new life, and this one stopped me. What happens when the tree doesn't survive?What happens when the trunk really does die?

Because if we're honest, sometimes things in our lives really do end. Sometimes relationships change permanently. Sometimes dreams don't unfold the way we expected. Sometimes we experience losses that cannot simply be restored to exactly what they were before.

What happens then?

This is where the redemption story of the burned tree became even more beautiful to me.

I learned that even when a burned tree dies, it can become crucial—let me repeat that, crucial—to the rebirthing of the forest. Even what appears completely dead can become part of an environment where new life begins to grow. And I couldn't stop thinking about that word: crucial.

I wish I could tell you that neither you nor I will walk through hard things, but that wouldn't be true. Jesus Himself told us that in this world we would have trouble. Following Christ doesn't mean that nothing will ever burn. It means that even in the fire, we belong to the One who redeems, and these pain becomes crucial for our own becoming more like Christ.

God can use the very hard things we have walked through as places where His light shines brightly. The places that once represented pain can become places from which compassion grows. The things that taught us how desperately we needed God can become the very places from which we point someone else toward Him. Even what has ended can become part of the soil from which something new eventually grows.

Something may have really died, ended, and changed, but that doesn't mean God cannot use what remains to bring forth new life.

The Fire Doesn't Get the Final Word

This brings me back to Sanballat's question:

"Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”

He saw rubble, burned stones, and destruction, but He couldn't see what God was going to do with it.

Maybe there is an area of your life that feels like that today. You look at what remains and wonder how anything beautiful could possibly come from it. Maybe you've been striving to fix it, replaying what you could have done differently, carrying burdens that have become too heavy, or feeling anxious because you cannot see what comes next.

Sweet mom, you don't have to know exactly what the forest will look like after the fire.

When life gets hard, stop striving to get it all together. When life feels hopeless, stop overthinking what you could have done differently. When life feels heavy, leave those burdens before the Lord. When life feels difficult, do what is right in front of you and entrust God with the rest. When life feels unsafe, lean on God for safety. And when you feel anxious about the future, worship Him.

There is still life underneath the bark. The roots are still alive. Maybe something really has ended, and God will use even that place as part of the environment from which something entirely new begins to grow.

Whatever the case may be, the condition of what you see today does not determine the limits of what God can do tomorrow.

The enemy does not get the final word.

The fire does not get the final word.

God does.

Let's pray:

Lord,

Thank You that You bring life out of death. Thank You that You resurrect what is dead and redeem what is broken. When all we can see is rubble, help us trust that You can still bring forth something new. When we cannot see what You are doing beneath the surface, help us remain rooted in You. And when something truly has ended, give us the faith to believe that You can even use what remains as part of something new. Help us look toward the future with hope, knowing that our circumstances do not get to determine the end of the story. We love You, and we need You always. In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's Continue to Walk Together

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