Then King Nebuchadnezzar 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 3:25
Today’s scripture is taken from the account in the book of Daniel when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a furnace to be burned to death because they refused to worship the gods of Babylon. A story many of us heard as children and how God showed up in the fire with them and kept them from being harmed. Of course, the king of Babylon was astonished and quickly amended his law to make provision for the God of the Hebrew men.
What I want to point out today is that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not even consider options in the command given by the king. When they were summoned to come before the king, they boldly declared their confidence in God to rescue them from whatever sentence they were given. We know the rest of the story that God did show up and protected them through the fire. Here is the interesting part. God didn’t step in and keep them from going into the fire, they still had to go through it. However, He went through the fire with them. He freed them from their bonds and protected them. So much so that they didn’t even smell like fire when they were called out.
You can have the same confidence in God today. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Our God is able to deliver us from any circumstance, crisis or “fire” and He will. The secret is in what you believe. Do you believe that God is not only able, but that He will show up and walk through the fire with you and bring you out unsinged? Do you believe that He wants to protect you every step of the way? Or do you believe that He can, but you just never know what God will do? The truth is that you can know what God will do and what He will do is be faithful to His promises. He has given us an entire book full of His faithfulness and promises. You can depend on Him to always come through for you when you trust and call on Him! If anyone is “missing it” in the problem, you can be sure it isn’t God. Dig deep and press in until you are full of the same confidence that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had and believe God will bring you to victory through every “fire”.
Today I want to encourage you to look for God to show up in your “fire”. In this current world crisis, have confidence in God to walk with you through this pandemic, strengthening and protecting you. Then, let the world see that no matter what is going on around you, God is with you and He stays with you right in the middle of all fiery circumstances and brings you out to victory.
Today’s scripture reading: Daniel 3
The Daily Dose 
No one likes to go through the fire or the rough seas. I recently heard, though, Jimmy Evans say that calm seas never made a good sailor. Maybe if our lives were more difficult we would be better at it. If we had to live by faith in order to survive and could only believe that our next meal would be provided by God when we needed it, maybe we would be better at living life for God. Proverbs 24:10 says that those who faint in the day of adversity have little strength. Looking back at my own experiences, I think that also implies little faith. If I can’t do it on my own strength, then I tend to get overwhelmed instead of looking to the One who is never overwhelmed. When the fire is roaring, like Lynette points out, that is when “the Son of God” is there with us. Lord God, give me the faith to walk with you in the complete confidence of your protection in that day.
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