Do I Smell Smoke?

"They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." Daniel 3:27

As a child I loved the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace because they wouldn't bow to the golden image constructed and commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar. My understanding of this story was pretty one-dimentional. Three men refused to worship something other than God, the king got mad, threw them in the fire, and God saved them.

Throughout my adult life I have been blessed over and over again by the intricacies of this story and how it applies to my life. Choices we make when faced with adversity will define our loyalty to God or disown our faith in God. As we all have experienced, life continuously serves as "ole King Neb" who constantly wills our circumstances and makes us choose whether we will bow down to pressure or stand up to fear. Through our pain and fear we make the choice whether to lay down in the furnace allowing the circumstances to set us ablaze instead of walking around claiming God's protection and future deliverance. Walking around in the fire shows our belief in God and His assurance that He is mightly to save and He will resue us from the fire. Sometimes we will be left in the fire for a while much like these guys so that our onlookers may see the "fourth man walking around in the fire". In the Bible story, King Neb knew instinctively that the fourth man walking around with the men was the son of God.

No matter what furnace we have been thrown into God will be walking with us if we trust Him to lead. When we are delivered from our furnace, and we will be, don't allow the smell of fire - bitterness and anger - to "linger on your clothes". Remember, love and bitterness cannot reside side by side in the heart.