Numbers 10:35 describes a powerful moment in Israel’s journey. As the people traveled from Egypt toward the Promised Land, they followed the visible presence of God over the Ark of the Covenant. Whenever the Ark set out, Moses would declare, “Rise up, O LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Psalm 68 echoes that same confidence: “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him!” The imagery is striking. God’s presence is pictured as smoke by day and fire by night, a force before which opposition cannot stand. The Psalm continues, “As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!” It is not a subtle picture. When God moves, resistance does not linger; it dissolves.
That imagery carries into our own experience in ways that are both encouraging and humbling. We all face mountains of problems, hills of difficulty, and hearts that can feel as unyielding as stone. Scripture repeatedly uses the language of melting to describe what happens when God intervenes. “The mountains melt before the LORD” (Psalm 97:5), and “the earth melts” at His voice (Psalm 46:6). I say this carefully, because I have stood in front of a few personal mountains that seemed quite content to remain unmoved. It is easy to feel as though certain situations are fixed in place, immune to change. Yet history and experience suggest otherwise. Franklin Roosevelt once observed that problems often “melt before the fire of a spiritual awakening.” There is something about God’s presence that reshapes what appears permanent. What feels immovable begins to soften when brought into His light.
The New Testament reveals that this same power is fully expressed in Jesus Christ. He is not only the presence of God among His people but the One through whom God’s victory is made clear. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). That light carries the same effect as the fire described in the Psalms. Jesus also demonstrated authority over forces that seemed overwhelming, whether in nature, sickness, or the human heart. Paul writes, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). When God arises through Christ, the outcome is not uncertain. Opposition may appear strong, but it cannot endure. Like wax before fire, it gives way in the presence of a greater power.