Facing the Fiery Furnace

Trials and struggles.  We all face them.  We all go through them.  It can seem that sometimes we go through them more than others or ours are somehow harder then others.  In any case, they are never fun.  They are never easy.  Doug and I are in that season now.  It's been a rough several months.  Mostly it's due to finances.  It's amazing how one simple thing, money, can get you down so fast and for so long.  It's also amazing how it can affect so many other areas in your life.  But, it doesn't have to be money.  There are all kinds of different struggles and trials that people go through.  It's different for everybody, and yet somehow the same.  It's still a struggle.  It's still something that can be scary, hard, seemingly impossible to get through.

I was reading in Daniel today about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  King Nebuchadnezzar built a huge statue and wanted his entire kingdom to bow down and worship it.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused.  In fact, here are their exact words to King Nebuchadnezzar:

  "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." 
(Daniel 3:17-18 NIV)

"The God we serve is able to deliver us."  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew God was able to deliver them.  Do I have that much faith when I face struggles, whatever they may be?  Do I have complete and utter faith in my God's ability to handle any and every situation that I face?

I love the next line "But even if he does not."  Even if he doesn't, they will stand firm.  They will still follow. They will still trust.  How hard that can be.  God always provides during our struggles, it's just that sometimes His ways are not our ways!  He might not help us avoid them.  He might not make them any easier.  He might just want us to get thrown into them.  But here's the next part of the story:

  and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.  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?"  They replied, "Certainly, Your Majesty."  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."   (Daniel 3:23-25 NIV)

As soon as they were thrown into the fire, King Nebuchadnezzar saw four men.  You see, Jesus was already in the fire waiting for them.  It sometimes can seem like God has abandoned me when I start walking into struggles.  I oftentimes want God to shield me from pain.  Keep me from hardships. I want our life to be smooth and easy.  But that's just not how life works.  But, God has already gone before me.  He knows my struggles even before I face them.  He's already in them, ready to embrace me, love me, guide me through.  He might not shield me from trials and struggles, but he never abandons me in them.  He's right in the middle of them!

I think this next line is my favorite of the whole story:

  Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most   High God, come out!  Come here!"  So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them.  They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their ropes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.  (Daniel 3:26-27 NIV)

There wasn't even the smell of fire on them!  God is so amazing!  He can bring us through, whatever we are going through, so fully, so completely.  He stands with us.  He stands for us.  In fact, He brings us through so completely, that all people can see is that God was with us.  Is that how I face my struggles?  That when I come out on the other side people will know that God got me through.  Am I able to give him praise and glory for all He has done and have people believe me because of how I handled a difficult time?

It can be so easy to get discouraged, to give up.  It's not wrong to get discouraged.  What's important is to get my focus back on God.  Back to the God who is with me and will never leave me; so that when I come out on the other side, I'll be able to point to God, give Him all the glory.  The result, not only am I stronger, closer to God, but others will be inspired, encouraged, maybe even changed because of what I went through.

That's the beauty in a struggle.  God glorified.  Lives changed.  First mine.  Then, quite possibly, other's.