He Is In The Fire

During one of my many sleepless nights as of late, lying in my king sized bed, with my eyes wide open, I was trying to hold back grieving cries.  Because once I cry, I don’t stop for hours.  In this particular moment I was at a loss for words due to the pain of my husband not being next to me.  I closed my eyes.  I opened my mouth and all that came out was “Lord, You are enough.”  Silent tears streaked my face.   I repeated this over and over in a cadence rhythm.  “Lord, You are enough.  Lord keep being enough for me, Lord You are enough.”

As I repeated this over and over, an out of this world tranquility washed over me.  The unexplained kind.  In this moment I had a vision of being in a raging fire.  I was in the center of the flames, not knowing what to do.  I could see a figure come to me.  He wrapped His arms around me—shielding me from the flames.  It was my Heavenly Daddy. 

He got in the fire with me. 

He is in the fire with me. 

I sat up in the bed and sobbed a deep sob.  I praised my God through the fleshly heartache.  He is in the fire with me.  He is shielding me from the flames.  He knows I have to walk through the fire.  This fire is molding me more into His image, but He is with me in the fire.  I know He will never leave me.  That changes everything.

When I was a young teenager my favorite song was “Through the Fire” by The Crabb Family.  I have so many memories of blasting this song through the house with my mom.  Through the years the powerful chorus has stayed with me: “He never promised that the cross would not get heavy and the hill would not be hard to climb.  He never offered victories without fighting.  But he said help would always come in time.  Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says give in, Just hold on, our Lord will show up, and he will take you through the fire again.” 

My spirit rises when I think of the recorded events of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Book of Daniel.  They disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar’s orders to worship the golden image.  “…But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.  And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”  Daniel 3:15.  Their reply, “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.”  Daniel 3:17-18. 

What a testament of faith from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  The words “But if not” in reference to even if God didn’t save them from the fire—they still were NOT going to worship any other gods.  They were willing to go into the fiery furnace, amongst the flames.  The king was furious with their answer.  He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than usual.  The three God fearing men were bound in their cloaks and thrown into the fire.  The fire was so hot that the King’s men that threw them in the fire perished from the flames.    

What happens next is nothing short of a miracle and beyond power-filled.  “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste.  He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?... I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like the son of gods.”  Daniel 3:24-25.

The king went to the door of the furnace and declared the three men to come out.  When they got out of the furnace they were unharmed, not one hair on their heads were burnt.  They didn’t even smell like smoke. 

God got in the fire with them. 

He shielded them from the flames. 

We serve that same God today. 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had radical faithfulness to God.  They did not falter in their answer to go through the fire, refusing to worship the golden image.  Radical faithfulness changes us.  That kind of faith bleeds into every area of our lives and those around us.  Because the three men stayed true to God—King Nebuchadnezzar was changed.  He made a decree that “any people or nation that speaks against the God of these three men they shall be torn from limb to limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.”  Daniel 3:29-30.  The King then praised God. 

I want to be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  I want to be willing to walk through the flames of this broken world for my God.  Even when my flesh doesn’t want to.  Even when my flesh is screaming in heartache.  Even when my flesh is fearful of the flames.  I want a faith that changes the world around me. 

There is power in the fire.  

I may have to go through the fire, but I will be unbound and praising Him through the fire.  

No matter what I face in this life— No matter what you face in this life—Our Lord will always get in the fire with us.  He will never leave us or forsake us.  

During moments in my life when the flames were surrounding me—When I am in danger, when my heart hurts so badly I don’t think I can take another breath, when I don’t see His plan and darkness abounds my view—He is there, always, shielding me from the flames. 

He is in the fire with me.

He is in the fire with you.

He is my rock and my redeemer.  He is my ever present help in times of trouble.    

I Trust my God, I Trust my God, I Trust my God.