27And
assembling the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the royal officials of
the king seeing the men those. The fire did not rule them in their body and the
hair of their head was not singed and their mantles were not changed and a
smell of fire did not touch in them.
Isn’t it interesting how the Lord turns the tables on these
guys? Back in 3:8, it was men from this same group who “tattled” on Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego to begin with. Now the Lord makes them the primary
witnesses to confirm His miraculous deliverance! It is this very group who
gather around our friends as they walk casually out of the flames and these men
are, in a sense, forced to acknowledge what God has done. As it says in II
Peter 2:8, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished.”
Fire is perhaps the most destructive element in our known
universe. It need only touch us and it wins. I have read that the Babylonians
actually worshipped it. If that’s true, I’d have to say, “No wonder.” We see its
power to do us great good on the one hand (heat our houses, cook our food, etc.),
while on the other hand if it once gets out of control, its power to destroy is
almost limitless. In his furious anger, Nebuchadnezzar ordered this particular
fire to be heated “seven times” hotter than normal. What a raging, fearful
inferno it must have been. If there was ever a time to fear this world’s power,
it was then. But what does our God say? “Fear not, for I am with you.” David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
Such destructive force is utterly impotent before our God.
If it (or any other threat for that matter) ever hurts us, it can only be
because our mighty God allowed it. If He wishes, His servants can walk unharmed
in the midst of a raging fiery furnace!
These guys walked out without even the smell of smoke on their clothes!
This verse reminds me of Psalm 31, particularly verses
19-21:
“How great is Your goodness,
which You have stored up for those who fear You,
which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You.
In the shelter of Your presence You
hide them from the intrigues of men;
in Your dwelling You keep them safe from accusing tongues.
Praise be to the Lord …”
I noticed this passage when I was studying that Psalm. The Lord
actually protects us from other
people’s meanness! I’d never thought of that exactly before. I get to live and
work in a world where I’m basically surrounded by a lot of very nice people.
Pretty much all day every day I get to go from one meeting or phone
conversation to another with people who I find all very pleasant. It hasn’t
always been that way. I’ve definitely had jobs where I had to work with or
under extremely difficult people. But right now that is not the case. And why
is that? Psalm 31 and Daniel 3 tell me exactly why. It’s not because this world
is a wonderful place! People and this very world itself are capable of
incredible meanness. But, for whatever reason, right now the Lord is hiding me
from it all. “In the shelter of His presence” He is hiding me “from the
intrigues of men;” in His dwelling He is “keeping me safe from accusing
tongues.” And yes, “Praise be to the Lord!”
I think it helpful to note here that the Lord doesn’t always
rescue His faithful people like He did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Hebrews
11 of course mentions those who “through faith conquered kingdoms … shut the
mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the
sword; whose weakness was turned to strength … received back their dead, raised
to life again,” but it goes on to say, “Others were tortured … some faced jeers
and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were
stoned, they were sawn in two …” My mind immediately goes to Latimer &
Ridley who were burned at the stake in 1555 under Bloody Mary. As they were being
burned to death, Latimer encouraged his friend, “Play the man, Ridley!” and
they both died praying for England. They died.
I think my point is to remind myself, in light of the
amazing story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that our hope is in the Lord. Our hope is not that He will
spare us from pain. Our hope is that, pain or not, He will be there, that
whatever He allows is truly the most loving, most wise course for our lives.
Our hope is that we can totally trust Him. Fire means nothing to Him. If He
wishes, even a raging furnace can’t even leave the smell of smoke on our
clothes. But, if we fall into the “others …” category of Hebrews 11, we can,
like so many before us, go even to death assured of His sovereign goodness.
And the really good news is that we don’t have to wait ‘til
we’re threatened to be killed before we enjoy the freedom of living in the
shelter of His love. As we’ve said before, faith is about all day every day. As
you and I would head out into our lives resolved to love God and love people we
barely step out our front door before we face one obstacle after another. As
the wicked cry, “Terror on every side!” -- without the Lord there is plenty to
fear in this world. Even with the
Lord there is plenty to fear! But you and I, like Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego can do right, be honest, work hard, and love people regardless of
whatever kind of furnace we feel we’re walking into. If we go with the Lord, He’ll
either miraculously deliver us (which He does repeatedly all through the day!)
or somehow He will use us to tell the world there is something worth living and
dying for.
You and I live in the same world Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego lived in. May we have the same faith in our sovereign, wise, and good Savior
God!
We can.
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