Trusting God's Plan in the Fire: Lessons From the Book of DanielSampl

If we were watching a movie, this would be the “do or die” climax of the story. Our heroes are faced with imminent death because they simply won’t bow down to a large statue. Think about it. They could have easily just bowed down but thought to themselves, “I don’t believe this, but I’ll do it for show.” Or, “I really don’t want to lose my life, so I’ll do it even though I may be disappointing God.” As they were feeling the heat of the flames, how easy would it have been to drop a knee and bow down? They were about to get burned!

To make matters worse, King Nebuchadnezzar demanded the fire stoked up seven times hotter than normal. He also ordered his strongest soldiers to quickly tie up these young men. The king was in such a rush to do this and so fired up with anger, he had Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego keep their clothes on as well. Normally, those to be executed would be stripped down to humiliate them even further, but the king just wanted them dead!

The heat of the fire must have been intense. I got a slight sensation of this when burning some twigs and logs on a bonfire recently. I had the job of throwing more wood on the fire and trying to rake up the twigs around it to continue the flame. I was about five feet from the fire and couldn’t look straight at it because the heat made me feel like my face would melt off. Now imagine the horror of knowing someone was about to throw you into that fire!

Remember the brute soldiers who tightly tied up our heroes? As they walked the bound up men to the top of the furnace, these soldiers were killed by the flames. There were no optical illusions here! This was a real blaze!

Oh, but here is the best part of the story. It comes when all seems lost. As King Nebuchadnezzar was looking into the furnace, he saw something really strange.“He said, `Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’” v 25

God was with them in the fire! He did not abandon them! He sent either an angel or Jesus Himself to untie them and protect them when the flames surrounded them. Friends, what hope this gives! You also have God’s protection in your fire. He will not leave you or forsake you!

We’ll see tomorrow how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego appeared when they came out of the fire.

Questions:

1. Do you feel like the fire has been made 7x hotter in your life?

2. What thoughts do you think Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had as they were being tied up?

3. How does it make you feel that Jesus is there in the fire with you?