There are a number of benefits of fever to the human body. It is usually a wakeup call alerting us to check the reason for the fever, and it is not often a welcome sign. Spiritually speaking, however, it is a desired condition.
In Romans 12:11, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to be, “Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” The Greek word for fervent is the word from which we get the term “fever,” and it is a very healthy spiritual condition. There are many Biblical examples of this and we want to consider a few of them today.
The sweet psalmist of Israel, David, said in Psalm 69:9, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up (consumed me).” David caught the fever for the house of God early in his life and never got over it. In Psalm 27:4, he expressed it thus, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” In Psalm 84, he speaks of the tabernacles of the Lord and Verse 2 reads, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” Oh, how we need to love, long for and be faithful to God’s house where He meets in a special way with His people!
Jesus demonstrated his fever for the house of God in John 2:13-17 as He cleansed the temple. Here the words of David from Psalm 69:9, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up,” are recorded again. During His ministry on earth, it was Jesus’ practice to attend and teach in the temple as well as on the seashores and mountains. Luke 4:16 tells us, “And He (Jesus) came to Narazeth, where He had been brought up: and, ‘as His custom was,’ He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” If Jesus felt it important to be in the house of God regularly, how much more important is it for us!
Another person we think of, with reference to this word “fever,” is the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah. God had told Jeremiah as recorded in Ch. 1, V. 5, that, before He was formed, He was ordained a prophet. There came a time, however, when Jeremiah must have felt his ministry was futile and decided to quit preaching. He soon found that He could not quit and had this to say in Ch. 20, V9, “Then I said, ‘I will not make men- tion of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning (fever) in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay (stop).” When we catch the fever for serving God, He will enable us to never stop until He calls us home or returns for us.
When we think of ones from the Bible with an unquenchable fever, a burning desire, Jesus outshines them all for He had an undeterred passion and zeal to perform the will of His Father. We find His purpose on earth in Psalm 40:8 and Hebrews 10:7, “Then said I, ‘Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God.’” That will was to die for your sins and mine. Child of God, have we caught the fever? What is our passion and zeal?
— Randy Zinn is pastor of Russell Missionary Baptist Church, Russell, Ark.; formerly of Okmulgee.
