TRIAL BY FIRE

An egotistical king……… a golden image…………….. Three young men…………….

We all know this story of how a King had built a huge golden image and commanded all the people to fall down and worship it or else be thrown into an immense, blazing furnace.

And for their refusal to obey the king’s decree to bow down to the idol, three young men were thrown   into the blazing furnace, from where they were miraculously set free.

The amazing story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, defying the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar which is recorded in Daniel 3 teaches us a number of lessons.  .

No. 1- Our Declarations when facing a challenge.

These young men made 2 declarations when they were threatened by the king.

¹⁷ If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up!

The second declaration is quite interesting “But if not”; it explores the possibility that God may not deliver them from the fire. When I am facing challenges, I always declare that God will deliver me. However I mostly fail to declare the second part “But if not”.

Declaration no 2, does not demonstrate a lack of faith as it would seem, rather it demonstrates a steadfast faithfulness towards God, irrespective of the outcome of the challenges we are facing.

While the first declaration is an affirmation of faith, the second declaration is an acknowledgement that He is my God in all situations, good or bad and I will praise Him and Him alone, regardless of whether or not things work out in my favour.

No.2- Our Experience During the trial

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound and thrown into the furnace without any escape route. The furnace was so hot that it immediately annihilated the soldiers who threw the three men into it. 
But King Nebuchadnezzar and the onlookers were astonished that the fire did not consume Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Still more amazing was the fact that now there were not three people, but a fourth person with them:

Can you picture that? What must have been going on? The point to note is that Jesus was with them in the fire. They were not struggling to get out of the fire. Jesus was in no hurry to get them out of the fire. Rather they were walking around in the fire with Jesus. Were they talking to Jesus? Having a good time with him?  Were they being comforted or holding his hand?  Whatever it was, they were content to be with Jesus. And they were not harmed in any way.

Similarly when we are facing a challenge, we need to remember that we are not alone, Jesus is close to us, holding our hand, walking with us and it is a good time to talk with him.

No. 3- The Paradigm shift after the trial

It is interesting to note the change that came over King Nebuchadnezzar as the events unfolded. Let’s look at verses 16, 26, 28, 29.

¹⁶ Who is that god who can deliver you out of my hands? This demonstrates the king’s total ignorance of the existence of God Almighty.

²⁶  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, You servants of the Most High God, come out and come here.- Here he  acknowledges the Most High God.

²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ²⁹  for there is no other God who can deliver in this way!- Here he  Praises the name of the Most High God.

That’s a paradigm shift – An amazing change in perspective - From ignorance to acknowledgement to Praise.

When we go through trials, people are watching us and our attitude towards and during the challenge can impact their lives. So we need to be careful of our actions and reactions during challenges.

Apart from the King, there were powerful people who were watching this whole incident and when they saw that the fire had no power on them, neither the hair of their head singed, nor their garments scorched, nor the smell of smoke clung to them. it must have had a very great impact on these people.

To conclude:

We all go through trials. Some people think that trials happen because of something that they have done or failed to do. I do agree that many times we go through challenges because of our own rash decisions but many times we go through trials even when we are in walking in total obedience to God as this story reveals.

And the same person who walked through the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is ready to walk with us today in our trials, challenges, storms and fires. He is our comfort and our peace. And when people see us come out of our trials unaffected, it will definitely impact them positively.