Through the Fire.
Reading Time: 7 minutes
“Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!”
Daniel 3:27
In 1984, Chaka Khan put out a song entitled “Through the Fire.” In this song, she sings of the lengths she would go to be with her lover. She recites the lyrics, “Through the fire, to the limit, to the wall, for a chance to be with you I'd gladly risk it all. Through the fire, through whatever, come what may, for a chance at loving you, I'd take it all the way. Right down to the wire, even through the fire.” It’s interesting because we often don't associate negative things like fire with good things like love. However, in our relational, self-growth, and spiritual journeys, the trials are actually a part of the specific workout regimen intended to get us to where we need to be. We think as “good Christians” we get to opt out of hard times; however, that couldn't be further from the truth.
After reading Daniel 1 and 2, you would think the three Hebrew boys deserve a reward. They react to being stolen from their home country and brought into slavery by staying true to God and standing on their values. God continues to bless them as they go on to become some of the smartest and strongest men in the land. He gives them a special ability to grasp complex concepts in literature and wisdom and they are recognized for their prowess, ability, aptitude, and understanding. The King promotes them to be in charge of all the affairs of the Province of Babylon after they trust God to interpret his dream that none of his other wise men and advisors could interpret. They were rewarded for standing on their values and principles and being “good Christians”. Now, in Daniel 3, they’re in a similar situation, and they should be rewarded for their allegiance to God, right?
We all know the story: all the king's best and brightest leaders, officials, and powerful subordinates have been summoned together again, this time to worship a golden statue that the king sets up in honor of himself. The music plays and all the king's employees and patrons are supposed to worship it. Another group of the king's wise men and advisors see these three Hebrew boys refusing to worship the statue and they go to snitch. The king is outraged. He brings Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into his office and questions them. He says he will give them one more chance to bow to his statue and if they don't, he will throw them in a furnace. The music plays again, and the Hebrew boys still don’t bow. The last time they challenged the powers that be, they were proven to be healthier and brighter than everyone else. They decide to only worship the true living God now and you would expect God to reward them for their boldness and act of faith, right? But this time they’re bound and thrown into a fire hot enough to kill the people standing around it.
We often expect our reward for being a good Christian to be the absence of problems or issues, when that is actually the opposite of what is promised to us. Trials will come. We are to expect storms and burdens as we walk with Christ. We will all experience many furnaces like the Hebrew boys in this story. Zechariah 13 reminds us that God will bring us through the fire to refine and purify us like gold and silver. While fire is actually promised, there is some good news. God doesn't promise a life with no heartache but He does promise a life with a few points of hope. God will never leave you. Nothing will be wasted. And everything will work out so well for your good that the present trials will be nothing compared to what you will experience later.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into this furnace. The king’s strongest men bind them and leave them for dead. But as the king stands and squints to peer through the furnace door, something is wrong. They threw three men in, yet see four walking around like nothing happened! The promise isn’t that you won't have hard times, but in the midst of your storm, Jesus won’t forsake you. He actually walks into the furnace with you. And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Where Jesus is there is peace. You may be in a furnace, but because Jesus is with you, you don't feel the same weight, pain, or hurt you would otherwise. You may be in a situation that would kill anyone else who came close to it, but you are living like nothing adverse is happening. This is the reality of the situationally disproportionate peace that comes with Jesus. You can be in what others would call the worst possible outcome and still have the peace and freedom you had in your best moment. David in the psalms says that wherever he goes, God is there. David can go to the highest heaven, or the lowest valley and God would still be right there with him. Nothing would separate David from God. This is why David said that he could go through the valley of the shadow of death and still fear no evil. God being with you changes how you react to adverse situations. You have the peace that comes with knowing He will have the final say!
What's crazy about this story is that Nebuchadnezzar sees the unexplained freedom the Hebrew boys are experiencing and automatically accredits it to their God. The king refers to them as “servants of the Most High God” and calls them to walk out of the furnace. They were bound when they went in, but they are free when they come out. Y’all, the Bible actually says the fire doesn't even touch them. Not only that, their hair and clothes don't even smell like smoke. They don't look, smell, or act like what they went through, yet they were shining witnesses of what God can do. Y’all, do you know how crazy it is for God to allow trials that aren't too much for us to bear, but allow those trials to be the exact thing needed to refine us? The process of refining is where metal goes through devastating temperatures so that the impurities and imperfections can die off while the radiance and strength of the precious metals are edified. Job 23:10 says that though we go through the fire, we will come out as pure gold. I'm starting to understand why we are called to count it all joy when trials come because they seem to only adversely affect our accusers and our chains. Trials grow us while killing the things that hold us down.
I know this is a lot but you will be stronger after this. Your situation may be hard, but it's an opportunity for God to burn off the generational curse you were born into. Your circumstances may be dire but it’s a chance to grow your resolve and your gifts. This may be difficult but this is when God is refining your character to make you more trustworthy and consistent. You wouldn’t have the character, resilience, or ability to sustain the dreams God is calling you to in the future if you don't go through the workouts brought by the storms of your past. Trials produce a more refined character.
Following God is typically an opportunity to see more of His power. I don't think God allows furnaces as a cruel joke to punish us or that being with God means the absence of storms. Instead, life with Jesus is a promise of safety, not stagnation. God allows storms so that we can further experience growth. They are just workouts to build us. Every promotion Daniel and his friends received was set up by a storm. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus would never encounter resurrection if they didn't experience death with Jesus. The disciples would never see Jesus or Peter walk on water if they didn't listen to Jesus’ leading to go through a lake in a stormy season. And Jesus would have never received the glory set before Him in heaven if He did not endure the cross.
So, count it all joy when furnaces come, because you shall come out as pure gold. These are opportunities for you to see how much God can really do.
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