13 Reasons To Keep Goingഉദാഹരണം

GOD IS WITH YOU IN THE FIRE

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this...” -Han Solo, Star Wars

They did the brave thing. The obedient thing. The right thing. And it got them tossed into the fire. Literally.

King Nebuchadnezzar’s command was simple and all-inclusive: As soon as the music sounded, all people from all nations and languages were to bow down and worship an image of gold. Whether they agreed with it or not, everyone chose to obey. Because the punishment for failing to bow was to be thrown into a blazing furnace.

Despite this threat, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow. As the king’s snitches reported to him, they “pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”

When confronted, the young men from Israel explained that they were prepared for the punishment. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Death before disobedience. Faith over favor with the King.

They took a stand. And they paid the price: the King, enraged, had the temperature in the furnace pumped up – seven times hotter than usual. It was so hot that it killed the soldiers who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it. 

And they were incinerated. 

Actually, not. There was someone else in the furnace with them: four figures unbound, unharmed, walking around in the fire.

The King was blown away. “The fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.”

Are you in the fire today? Are there flames consuming your life? Is everything burning down around you? God is there. 

Whether or not He delivers you out of it, He will be there with you. Always. 

PRAYER: I can’t do this alone, God. I need You. Walk with me through this fire.