John and I were discussing the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I love it when someone not as familiar with a story gives me a new perspective!!!
I read the part where Nebuchadnezzar ordered them thrown in to a furnace heated seven times hotter than normal. The guys who threw them in died from the heat, but there go our three guys into the flames and then they started walking around with the fourth man who just suddenly showed up. Nebuchadnezzar is so astonished at seeing a fourth person (who, by the way, looks like the Son of God) that he double-checks what he’s seeing with the other spectators, THEN he walks right up to the furnace, where he should have been killed like all the other men, and hollers in at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out.
Right about this point, John stopped my reading and exclaimed, “You mean, those guys didn’t try to run OUT of the fire? They were just walking around in there until Nebuchadnezzar called them?” This gave me a whole new perspective. I responded, “Better to be IN the fire with the Lord, then out of the fire without Him,” and I had to stop and think about what I said.
So, the three men just hung out together in the flames and the fire with the Lord, then when Nebuchadnezzar calls them out (putting his own life in danger to do so), they saunter out… no sweat, no smell of fire or smoke, not one hair or item of clothing singed. No wonder the king is floored!!
So when I’m in the fire, as I truly seem to be right now, I don’t need to be in a rush to get out. As long as I’m trusting and hanging out with the Lord, as long as He wants us to be together in here, I won’t get any part of me singed or smelly from the furnace of trial. When God says it’s time to come out, then it’ll be time to come out and I don’t have to worry about the heat in the meantime.
I’ll be chewing on this one for a while, but I thought I’d toss it out there for some other people to ruminate on as well.