You must know today that it is G-d, your G-d, who passes
over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them
and He will subdue them before you. You will drive them out
or destroy them quickly, as G-d spoke to you.
Deuteronomy 9:3
The imagery of G-d as consuming fire in this verse can be understood as follows: Fire ascends; flames look as if they are trying to break loose of whatever they are burning. It is only the burning
matter that keeps the flames anchored, whereas once it has been
consumed, the flame dies out.
Similarly, since G-d is non-corporeal, it is not “natural” for Him to be revealed in our physical world. What enables G-d to be miraculously revealed in our world is the performance of the commandments, all of which involve some form of physical matter. The commandments act as the agent of combustion. By consuming the materiality of physical matter, revealing its Divine element, the Divine flame can burn – and continue to burn.
Furthermore, just as a thick tree produces a bigger fire than a small wick, the more commandments we perform, the more we refine and elevate the materiality of the physical world. This enables a bigger, brighter, and warmer flame of Divinity to blaze in our lives, manifest as enthusiastic love and awe of G-d and passionate devotion to our Divine mission.
--Daily Wisdom Volume 3