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📄 RIDDLE

I am fire that does not destroy,
A flame that draws but does not devour.
I dwell in mystery on holy ground,
Yet I speak with perfect power.

To the proud I am peril,
To the humble, a call.
What burns within Me
Consumes not at all.

What am I?

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🔍 The Scriptures That Unlock the Clues

The beauty of THIDDEN is that the answer isn’t found by solving a puzzle in your mind—but by searching the Scriptures with your heart. Here are a few key passages that open the meaning of the riddle:

• Exodus 3:2 – “The bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.”
  → God’s presence is holy. Intense. But it doesn’t destroy—it invites.
• Exodus 3:5 – “Remove your sandals… this is holy ground.”
  → This is no ordinary fire. This is a moment of divine invitation.
• Isaiah 66:2 – “To this one I will look… who trembles at My word.”
  → The flame doesn’t consume the humble—it calls them closer.
• Hebrews 12:29 – “Our God is a consuming fire.”
  → A holy warning to the proud, yet a purifier to those who come repentant.
• John 8:12 – “I am the Light of the world.”
  → Jesus is the fire that guides—not destroys.
• Malachi 3:2–3 – “He is like a refiner’s fire… and He will purify…”
  → What feels like burning is actually refining.
• Revelation 1:14 – “His eyes were like a flame of fire.”
  → Christ’s gaze penetrates, not to harm, but to reveal and restore.

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❓ Reflection Questions to Sit With

These are the kinds of questions THIDDEN prompts on the reflection page—perfect for journaling, quiet time, or conversation with someone you’re discipling:

1. What is something in your life God may be trying to refine, not destroy?
2. When have you felt the Lord drawing you near, even through fear or trembling?
3. Why do you think God reveals Himself in fire—yet does not consume?

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💡 The Answer

God’s Holy Presence
The riddle points to the mystery of God’s presence—seen first in the burning bush and ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ.

• He is a fire that does not consume.
• He calls the humble.
• He refines the willing.
• And in Him, we are transformed—not destroyed.

To meet God is to encounter the fire—and to be changed forever.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
— John 1:5

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🖋️ A Personal Note

I didn’t expect this one to hit me as hard as it did.

When I sat with the idea of fire that doesn’t destroy, I realized how often I’ve feared God’s nearness—thinking it would expose too much, burn too hot. But in this riddle, I felt the invitation again: take off your sandals. This ground is holy, but you are welcome here.

That’s the heart of THIDDEN. These riddles are more than clever wordplay. They’re spiritual doors. And the more I’ve sat with them, the more I’ve found myself worshiping—not because I solved something, but because I met Someone.

And something else—when I reflect on the warning in Hebrews 12:29, “Our God is a consuming fire,” I’m not only convicted about where I may be hypocritical in my own walk of faith, but also burdened for those within my relational sphere of influence.

What does it mean that the Lord is a fire that sanctifies—and yet also a fire that consumes “deadwood”? Scripture clearly teaches that those who deny the Son of God will face eternal torment:

“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
— Revelation 20:10 (NASB 1995)

That means the same divine fire that refines the repentant will continue to burn—not to destroy, but to sustain judgment—upon those who reject Christ.

How can anyone truly grasp that and not be moved with reverence and awe for God, the holy and righteous Father of all creation?

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🕯️ A Final Plea: Mercy at the Edge of the Fire

Let us not walk away from these truths with only reverence—but also with urgency.

“And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
— Jude 22–23 (NASB 1995)

There are people around us—some quietly doubting, others walking straight into judgment. The fire of God is not symbolic. It is real. And yet so is His mercy.

So let us tremble before His holiness.
Let us grieve for the proud.
Let us run to the lost.
And let us never forget: the same fire that will consume also purifies—and through Christ, even now, it still calls.