This weekend, for whatever triggered the thought, I began contemplating the favorite Sunday School Bible Story of the fiery furnace. It is a great story. Three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down and worship anyone but God the one true King. So, they are thrown into a furnace which is so hot it kills the people throwing them in. And yet, when the presence of God in the furnace with the three blows the mind of the king, they are ordered out (my guess is the furnace was still pretty hot...what are the chances the king lost a pile of “go-to-it” guys that day? Just saying...). Their hair is not scorched. They do not even smell of smoke. The king acknowledges the presence of one stronger than he. Awesome. Best Bible story ever.
But the triggered thought didn’t need a recapitulation of the story, the story I knew. My thought was originally this: even before Jesus, those who most adamantly served God had to endure the fire. I began to think about the fires I’ve had to walk through. Fires that, regardless of cause...I mean, maybe they weren’t demanding I bow down and worship another king...called me to faithfully respond in praise to the One who stands with me through it.
And then I was frustrated. A little perturbed. Slightly jealous. You see, when the three amigos made it out of “Hell’s Kitchen”, they were completely unscathed. They were unaffected by the fire and didn’t reek of experience. “What???” I shouted at this sudden realization. “Are you serious??? That’s not fair! Why is my life a system of all the remnants of every fire I’ve ever been through – fires God has not only stood with me through, but held me in?? How did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get out scotch free???” My thoughts continued on like this for quite some time.
Until it occurred to me there was so much of the story untold. Part of us imagine these superheroes who just sort of took on the fire with their bravery and skill. Walked out, traded war stories, and went out like men to see if they could start a bigger fire! But the Bible doesn’t tell us that...we’ve just given ourselves this image. Really, there is much the Bible never said. For all we know, Meshach went home and cried like a baby for nights when he wasn’t sleeping because he was still scared sick. For all we know, Shadrach spent the hours in the furnace wetting himself again and again. For all we know, for the rest of his life, Abednego refused to even start a fire...let alone roast a good marshmallow. While we are imagining three grown men trading stories about the weather with the Creator, just waiting for the king to get the hint, for all we know, the three stood held together with the presence of God pleading “please don’t leave, please don’t leave, please don’t leave...whatever happens in this fire, please don’t leave!” In fact, part of me imagines the latter is closer to the truth than not...
For all which remains unspoken, this remains unforgettable: the presence of God never left. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego may very well have been seriously affected by the furnace which spared their life without so much as a physical marking of their experience. I doubt they went around bragging about the fire they had been in...how could they? Amazingly, the same fire which killed the kings biggest and best gave way to the testimony of God’s grace and faithfulness. Amazingly, they simply came out proclaiming the God who Is. Amazingly, my fires ask me to do the same...
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