The FireSample

The Fire Provides Revelation

What is the purpose of fire? It can heat something up and burn it down. It can cleanse, cook and consume. Fire can also provide light in the midst of darkness. It has the power to provide many things that can be both good and not so good.

Mel Robbins once said, "The same boiling water that softens a potato, hardens an egg." In other words, it's not so much about the actual fire or "boiling water". It's more about what's in it (content). We see this in the story of Daniel 3 where there are three young Hebrew men who are facing a decision that will serve as a turning point in their lives and the life of the Babylonian empire.

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and he wanted all the officials to attend the dedication of this image. They were all to loudly proclaim and fall down and worship the image of gold as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music (vs 5). If anyone did not do such thing, they were to be thrown in the fiery furnace. Among those officials were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three Jews who did not want to bow down before this image. Some astrologers came forth and denounced the three Jews before the king.  

When the young men were thrown in the furnace, verse 24 says, "Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" 25 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."

The furnace brought the Son of God to be revealed in the midst of it. Jesus Himself appeared with the young men 'IN' the fire! The person who was able to see Him clearly was King Nebuchadnezzar. The fire provided this revelation; the person of Jesus in the midst of it all!

Reflection: Is it possible that the fire you are experiencing is not to consume you but to reveal Jesus to those who otherwise would not see Him? Are you focusing on the 'boiling water' or are you seeing the content which Jesus is developing in the midst of it? He uses the fire to reveal Himself.