Sandy Zalecki
Member
Have you ever thought about the power of fire? Fire provides heat. Fire destroys. Styrofoam immediately shrivels and curls away when thrown in a fire. Firewood pops and crackles into nothingness. Gasoline burns explosively. Alloys changes face. Glass melts and run like syrup. Silver glows brightly. Gold Separates into its purest form. People run in fright when a fire surrounds their homes. It destroys in minutes what took years to build. The fires of life also show what we are made of.
No one knows this better than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. If you remember Nebuchadnezzar built a 100-foot statue of himself and ordered everyone to bow down to it. The three refused to obey. This infuriated Nebuchadnezzar to the point where he ordered them thrown in a fiery furnace. He even ordered it to be seven times hotter than normal. Shadrach and his friends answered to this threat by saying, “If that be the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be know to your, O king, that we don not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:17 NKJ
They were ready to give their lives before they would bow down and worship an idol of the king. The furnace was so hot that the “men of valor” Nebuchadnezzar chose to throw them in the furnace were burn up. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego fell down bound into the midst of the furnace, but they were not burned up. Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and said, “Look!! I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:25 NKJ
When you are in the midst of a trial do you shrink from it or do you let the fire serve you to purify you and glorify the Lord through it? Many shrink away because of fear, pride, discouragement, bitterness, or addictions. But if you endure the blaze you have one that will walk with you. One “like the Son of God.” Isaiah 43:2 promises “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.”
In the end, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were praised by Nebuchadnezzar and because they did not shrink from the fire their God was also praised. “No other God can deliver like this.” Daniel 3:29
When you go through a trial who gets the glory? Do you shrink back and allow the feelings of fear or the addition win, or do you go through the fire of the trial knowing there is someone beside you who can deliver you like no other?
What this world urgently needs are people who withstand fire.
No one knows this better than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. If you remember Nebuchadnezzar built a 100-foot statue of himself and ordered everyone to bow down to it. The three refused to obey. This infuriated Nebuchadnezzar to the point where he ordered them thrown in a fiery furnace. He even ordered it to be seven times hotter than normal. Shadrach and his friends answered to this threat by saying, “If that be the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be know to your, O king, that we don not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:17 NKJ
They were ready to give their lives before they would bow down and worship an idol of the king. The furnace was so hot that the “men of valor” Nebuchadnezzar chose to throw them in the furnace were burn up. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego fell down bound into the midst of the furnace, but they were not burned up. Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and said, “Look!! I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:25 NKJ
When you are in the midst of a trial do you shrink from it or do you let the fire serve you to purify you and glorify the Lord through it? Many shrink away because of fear, pride, discouragement, bitterness, or addictions. But if you endure the blaze you have one that will walk with you. One “like the Son of God.” Isaiah 43:2 promises “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.”
In the end, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were praised by Nebuchadnezzar and because they did not shrink from the fire their God was also praised. “No other God can deliver like this.” Daniel 3:29
When you go through a trial who gets the glory? Do you shrink back and allow the feelings of fear or the addition win, or do you go through the fire of the trial knowing there is someone beside you who can deliver you like no other?
What this world urgently needs are people who withstand fire.
