Rushing, mighty wind enters the apiary. It pounds against the hives with a force unexplainable. The shaking structures stand strong as the lives inside begin their warning sounds of agitation.
With the wind, comes smoke. The pungent odor driving the bees to gorge themselves on their own stores of honey. They will be ready….. if they have to leave….they think.
With the smoke, comes heat. Heavy and oppressive, the worker bees try to combat it at the entrance to their hive. With their wings fanning constantly, only the increasing heat greets them.
With the heat, comes the fire. Closer and closer it comes, causing the bees’ buzzing and flurry of activity to increase to an undeniable level. No longer thinking of the hive, the individual bees exit their home, flying anywhere and everywhere to escape the wind, the heat, the smoke, and the fire. Where is the queen? She is still in the hive. She isn’t physically prepared to fly. She is too heavy. She will die there-alone.
The wax inside begins to melt and drip inside the boxes. Instantaneous and explosively, the melting wax ignites itself into a chimney of fire. Smoke pours out from the top of the hive, leaving the white shell behind for the wildfire to consume and eat with its hunger.
When the fire is gone and the silence now enters, ash remains where life once lived. Could things have been different for the bees? If the bees had known ahead of time that the fire was coming, they could have been prepared. They could have gotten the queen ready, they could have swarmed in a group, moving as a unit and working as one to rebuild, to live once more in happiness and peace. They could have avoided the wind, the smoke, the fire, and the death.
Unlike the bees, we do have a warning.
God tells us in His word, Luke 12:40, Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
One day, after Jesus Christ comes back, God will tell us where we will spend eternity. Will it be in heaven with Him, or in the forever burning fires of hell? We have to be ready.
You can be prepared to avoid the fire by believing what Jesus did for you. He died on the cross for you, so that you can go to heaven. No one with sin can enter into heaven, but Jesus died and His blood covers and paid for our sin. If we believe that Jesus did that for us, God accepts Jesus’ death for our payment, and we will live eternally in heaven.
Friend, no one likes to hear of wildfires, but let it be a reminder to us, that we need to avoid the fire, at all costs.