I can only imagine
what Nebuchadnezzar must have thought when he saw four people walking around in
a fire that he had made seven times hotter than normal. A lot of fearful things must have gripped
him. It just did not happen! People do not walk around in the middle of
any kind of fire without being consumed by it.
Period. Yet, there they
were! Not only did he see the Hebrews he
had thrown into the fire walking around, there was an extra person with
them! Where in the world did He come
from? How is it even possible? He had to just appear because no one lives in
a fiery furnace! He saw these men
walking around unbound, and he had made sure that they were tightly bound
before they were cast into the furnace.
Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego were seemingly just out for a stroll in the flames. They weren’t being affected by the fire
whatsoever! They apparently were deep in
conversation with the other man, oblivious to what was going on around
them. It was a strange sight
indeed. I know that I would have been
scared of what I was seeing and more than curious as to how it could be and
what it meant. The king didn’t know it,
but God was with them in the furnace.
Isn’t it comforting
to know that we serve a God who knows when we stand up for Him regardless of
what others may think or do? We serve
one who cares about the situation we are in and is able to help us through
it. He never leaves us hanging. He is always with us as we go through our
difficult circumstances of life. He
doesn’t promise to change what we are going through, but He does promise to go
with us through it.
The wonderful thing
about it is that when we walk with the Lord through our difficult circumstances
of life, things change for us. Our faith
grows stronger, our confidence in God’s love for us grows stronger, our
awareness of His ability to help us grows, our ability to let go of our own
power lessens, and our gratitude for the God we serve grows. Adversity is a good thing when you go through
it with the Lord at your side.
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