Dharius Daniels - Wet Wood

I want to talk about this subject during our time together. The family subject consists of two words. As we step into part four of this sermon series called «House Fire,» I’ll talk from the subject «Wet Wood.» I frequently remind those of you who are part of our spiritual family that I was raised in a small town called Kill Michael, Mississippi. The last population count, according to the most recent census, was over 630 people—no stoplights and no police officers, well, one full-time and one part-time. When I grew up, we had a doctor there, but my dad told me we no longer have one, and the fast food restaurant is a gas station. Don’t hate on gas station food; it can be decent.

I remember this lady; we all knew each other because it was a small town. There’s this lady who lived in what we would consider a neighborhood. We called her Miss Della. To this day, I don’t know her real name, but we just called her Miss Della. I had friends who lived in the area with Miss Della; in fact, a couple of my friends lived with her. So, I would cross what wasn’t exactly a street, as it wasn’t paved, to see my friends at Miss Della’s house.

I always noticed something: we had gas heaters, but Miss Della had a fireplace. Every now and then, Miss Della’s sons or grandsons would go outside and cut firewood. However, when they brought some wood inside the house, they kept other wood outside, but the wood they kept outside was under something we called a shed. They never left the wood exposed to the elements; it was either in the house or under the shed—either in the house or under the shed. And I am, by nature, a bit inquisitive. So, I asked Miss Della’s son—whose real name I still don’t know, but we called him Bug—“Why do y’all keep the wood under the shed? Did you build the shed just for the wood?» He said, «Yeah, because it keeps the wood from getting wet.»

As I began to reflect on that experience, I felt it had some exegetical value. Being inquisitive, I started doing some research and discovered that it matters not how intense the fire is; if the wood is wet, it inhibits its ability to catch on fire. When we think about how we can utilize this analogy and apply it to our own lives, I believe there are many of us who are watching and some who are seated in this space today that want our lives to be on fire. However, what I’ve learned from that experience in Kill Michael, Mississippi, is that we not only have to get close to the fire; we also have to constantly assess the condition of our wood.

This is interesting because I think this is a powerful principle we can apply not only to our lives but also when it comes to helping, aiding, and assisting others. When I say «wet wood,» it represents—listen to me—those who are unimpacted by exposure to and access to fire. Yes, wet wood represents those who are unimpacted by exposure to or access to fire. So, if I’m exposed to fire, if I have access to fire and I’m not catching on fire, I need to ask, «Is my wood wet?»

Now, this is what I discovered about wet wood: it isn’t wood that’s drenched with water; wet wood is characterized by any type of wood that has been saturated with 40 to 60 percent water. Wow! So, it doesn’t have to be dripping to be wet, but if 40 to 60 percent of the wood is saturated with moisture, it inhibits its ability to catch fire. Are you hearing what I’m saying? Thus, I think we all need to ask ourselves, «Am I saturated with 40 to 60 percent of something that is keeping me from experiencing the fire that God wants to bring in and through my life?»

Listen to this: wood only gets wet by being exposed and uncovered. When wood gets wet, it’s not the rain that causes the problem; it’s the absence of covering that is the problem. Did you hear what I just said? It’s not the rain because it’s going to rain. It rains on the just and the unjust. In the Bible, rain symbolizes blessing, doesn’t it? But it also symbolizes burdens, doesn’t it? That’s the imagery Paul uses when he says it rains on the just and the unjust. He means that people can live an ethically appropriate life, and the unexplainable can happen to them; conversely, people can lead an ethically inappropriate life, and great things can happen to them.

So, he says it represents blessing and burden. It’s going to rain in our lives; we will be exposed to things that can impact our fire, so I can’t avoid that. The question is: Do I have covering? Now, I could talk about that spiritually from a spiritual perspective, but I want to discuss it practically because I’m…