Meet Me in the Fire

Read Daniel 3

King Nebuchadnezzar built a great statue that was nine feet tall and nine feet wide. What was the statue made out of?
A. Silver
B. Gold
C. Plastic
D. Iron

King Nebuchadnezzar told all the people that they must worship the statue at a certain time. What was sign that they would be given to fall down and worship the statue?
A. Music would play
B. Lights would flash
C. A fire would be lit
D. A trumpet would blow

What was the unusual thing that King Nebuchadnezzar noticed when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire?
A. They had an angelic glow
B. Their clothes were not burned and did not smell like smoke
C. Their hair had turned white as snow
D. Their burned clothes smelled like roses

Today’s Prayer:
Lord, I thank you that I am a Christian. Help me to make the choices that demonstrate my love and loyalty to You and not to my peers or the pressures of society. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Objective:
In a fiery furnace? What a strange place for a meeting. I guess we shouldn’t be all that surprised, because Scripture provides many examples of God meeting people in strange places. For Moses, that strange place was on the backside of a dessert. For Elisha, that strange place was on the side of a dried-up brook. For Ezekiel, that strange place was an abandoned graveyard. And for Jonah, that strange place was in the intestines of a whale. Whether we acknowledge it or not, God is still meeting people in strange places. A hospital operating room; a company’s board room; a red-light district; a jail cell; or a crack house, are among the many strange places where God still meets with people.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s meeting took place in the fire. It was not: on their cell phone, google calendar, or microsoft team app; but rather on heaven’s prayer calendar. Fire while good for heat, light, and beauty, is no place for a meeting. That was of course until God had the meeting with the three Hebrew boys.

It is not clear who called the meeting. Maybe Nebuchadnezzar called the meeting when he asked, “and who is that God that can deliver out of mine hands.” In the apocryphal writings, Abednego is credited with calling the meeting by praying: “Let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, glorious over the whole world.” Seemingly, that was enough to request God’s presence at the meeting.

Most of us would have prayed to be delivered from the fire. Others of us would have prayed that God would extinguish the fire. The third chapter of Daniel provides a third option, and that’s for God to keep us in the midst of the fire. While in the fire, the three Hebrew boys were not panicking, nor looking for the exit. Rather, they were walking around freely in the fire. Their meeting was exciting, encouraging, and eventful.

The good news for every believer today is that God still has fireside meetings. The heat from the meetings may be terrifying and intimidating. However, God‘s presence and power will give us freedom and peace amidst the fires of:\ bankruptcy, divorce, illness, depression, and addiction. God does not always deliver us from these fiery trials. Often times He delivers us in and through these fiery trials,

Questions to Ponder
1. When Nebuchadnezzar went to check on the Hebrew boys, he noticed a fourth person in the fiery furnace. When do you think the Hebrew boys noticed Him? How did they respond? How do you respond when God shows up in your fiery meetings?
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