3 Lessons from The Fire

(Sorry for the wait, chil’ it’s been quite a season, let’s get back to business, shall we?) There’s a story told in Daniel (chapter 3) of 3 young men. Their actual names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, but I say we call them Shad, Mel, & Buddy for the moment. To make an extended story short, King Nebuchadnezzar (King Neb) promoted Daniel, & Daniel pulled his friends (Shad, Mel, & Buddy) up the ladder with him. Then, King Neb made a pretty impulsive decision, had a gold statue created (100 feet tall) & declared that when the people heard “the song”, everybody was to stop what they were doing, & worship…the gold statue. Don’t want to worship King Neb’s rash decision? Well, we’ll just have to burn you alive (so we now have impulsive decisions & pretty harsh consequences). It worked pretty well, until….

….people started snitching. Some of King Neb’s people went to him & said “pssssssst!! Word on the street is that Shad, Mel, & Buddy aren’t following the rules when “the song” is played.” King Neb calls them in, threatens them a bit, and gives Shad, Mel, & Buddy one more chance to fall in line. They promptly respond with what essentially amounts to “nah…we’re good. God’s got us; but even if we do die, we’ll die without honoring this statue of yours.” King Neb…didn’t take that very well. So, he had Shad, Mel, & Buddy tied up & thrown into the fire (the 7 times hotter than usual fire). It’s in this fire that we learn a few life lessons:   

1. You can walk in what killed them. When Shad, Mel, & Buddy were tossed into the fire, it killed the men that threw them in there. Do you know who it didn’t kill? Shad, Mel, & Buddy. Actually, they were walking around, walking around in a furnace 7 times hotter than usual. King Neb looked in the furnace, and thought he was losing his mind, because he had 3 men tied up & tossed in the fire, but he saw 4 men taking a stroll in the furnace. Furthermore, once King Neb pulled Shad, Mel, & Buddy out of the furnace, their clothes weren't singed, and their hair looked the same. They didn't even smell like smoke. Churchy folks would say that they didn't look like what they'd been through. If God could do it then for them, He can surely do it now for you. With God, you can walk through things that defeated your enemies, and come out without a scratch. However, you can't walk around a fire that you're afraid of, which leads us to the second lesson....
2. Don’t be afraid of the fire. Sometimes, loyalty to God can put us in ‘hot’ places, but we can’t be afraid to step into them. If Shad, Mel, & Buddy had been so afraid of the fire, King Neb wouldn’t have ever realized that his gold was no match for our God. Sometimes, loyalty to God will cause you to go through the fire; but always remember that going through anything means that (by definition) you have to come out on the other side. So often, we're scared of trials. We think that if its fire, it must be of the devil. So we rebuke it, and it doesn't move. Alternatively, we run from the fire, not realizing that if we would just....hop in, God will hop in the fire with us. God is not afraid of your fire. God is not afraid of your issues. God is not afraid of anything that scares you. Trust me when I say this: if you step in, He'll step in with you. 
3. Fire brings promotion. Once God showed up, and King Neb realized who was really in control, Shad, Mel, & Buddy got promoted....AGAIN. Both promotions, through Daniel or through the fire, came from God. I think that's the key to Shad, Mel, & Buddy's success: they never forgot who had them covered. God promoted them through their connections, and He promoted them through their trials. So often, we either look to one or the other. We either depend on people to bring us up (and end up frequently disappointed), or we create trouble and isolate ourselves because 'we don't need anybody but Jesus' (beautiful mentality...really...but slightly misplaced). There's a balance, Saints, and in that balance is the elevation that God wants for us. Don't be afraid of the trouble; use the heat from the fire to fuel your faith and prepare you for the next level.

So, the moral of this story is to be fearless. There's not a fire in your life that God won't step into for you, and because all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord, He'll use the fire to make you shine brighter. Stop running from something that God has placed in your life to help you simply because it may cause you to go through the 'heat'. You may have to go through the fire, but since you've got God on your side, I can guarantee that you won't get burned. 

​Background Music: Fearless - Jonathan Nelson

---

previous post: Nevertheless
​