IN  THE  FIRE

When the Children of Israel wandered through the wilderness for forty years, the Lord Himself led them by a pillar of FIRE by night and a cloud by day.  And, even though many of them murmured and complained about their circumstances, the Lord never took away THE FIRE and the cloud until the day they reached their Promised Land.

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace for failing to bow to man’s whims, it was designed as a terrible death sentence for disobeying King Nebuchadnezzar’s orders – it was the fire of man.  And man, in his anger, had the fire heated seven times hotter than it would normally have been.  But God was with them IN THE FIRE.  God stepped INTO THE FIRE with them.  The king acknowledged that, even though he had thrown three men into the fire, yet he now saw four, and the appearance of the fourth Man was like the Son of Man.  Not only did the king see four men, but he saw them walking free in the midst of the fire; their hair and their clothes were intact - they didn’t burn; their skin and flesh did not succumb to the fire because they were in the very presence of God, and He was taking authority over the fire to protect His own.   The only things that burned in the fire were the cords with which the king’s strongmen had bound them.  Do you see the significance of that?  The only things to burn were the cords put upon them by evil men: the cords, which were meant to stop them from escaping out of the fire.  It’s amazing but, even though the restraints burnt up, yet the men never tried to escape the fire!  It was the king himself who called them forth out of the furnace.  The fire of the devil comes to destroy us because he’s a robber and is hell-bent on robbing from our lives in order to destroy us.  The fire of the devil comes to burn us in a very negative way.

But THE FIRE OF THE LORD comes in an extremely positive way to make of us a better people.  When we are up against difficult circumstances and we feel as if we’re IN THE FIRE, never overlook the fact that GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US.  He said, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and (the) flame will not scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2b - HNV).

Oh, how we hate anguish, pain, persecution, etc: those very things that God allows us to go through as He develops our character to reflect more of His own. If given the choice, we would go to great lengths to escape even THE FIRE OF GOD, wouldn’t we?  Yet, God can use whatever He chooses to refine us to be fit for the Master’s use.  His divine plan is to bring us forth as gold that has been tried IN THE FIRE so that we will be rich in the things that matter most to Him – spiritual riches. (Revelation 3:18). And God can turn the fire of man, anything that is meant for our evil and our hurt, into good for His glory as well. 

Have you ever wondered what may have been if the king had called forth the four men out of the fire (one was Jesus) instead of just the three - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?   

~ Joan Emery