lent day 8

The Fiery Furnace 19At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual, 20and he commanded some mighty men of valour in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing fiery furnace. 21So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace. 22The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, firmly bound, fell into the blazing fiery furnace. 24Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied. 25“Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!f” 26Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, 27and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. 28Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angelg and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.” 30Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Thoughts Why did Neb command 'mighty men of valour' to throw the lads into the furnace?  We can assume, given their stance, that they weren't going to put up any resistance.  I wonder if the king was a bit scared of what might happen.  In the face of the absolute confidence of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that their God would rescue them, perhaps Nebuchadnezzar thought something ...... unexpected might happen? Our heroes were dressed for a special occasion. They had come to the statue as high ranking supporters of the king as they were ordered.  They weren't being rebellious as such. They just weren't going to bow down to it. They weren't out to incite a riot or persuade anyone else to disobey. They were just being true to their consciences.  So dressed in all their foreign finery they were grabbed, tied up and thrown in. The heat incinerated the soldiers. The miracle was already apparent on the approach to the furnace. The fourth person appears in the flames and is clearly seen by the King. Who immediately recognises something miraculous is happening.  He calls the men out of the fire - is it just me or do these verses remind you of Jesus calling forth Lazarus? In both stories the men should have been dead and were alive by the awesome actions of the Most High God. Yet despite all of this Nebuchadnezzar still doesn't accept God as the only God.  He doesn't ask how he can become a follower.  He just acknowledges Him as 'the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego'.  i.e.: someone else's God, not his.   I think it is interesting that there are people who clearly see God in action and are even happy to acknowledge that they have seen Him but still wont bite the bullet and follow Him. I know people like that. People who have seen prayers answered, miraculous interventions happen and who acknowledge that it must have been God at work. But they stop short of throwing in their lot with the Saviour they have glimpsed. Its sad. And very frustrating! Nebuchadnezzar realises that there's no way of destroying these young leaders, and his whole court has witnessed the miraculous deliverance from the fire, so he has no option but to hail them as heroes.  He further promotes them and places them under his protection. Presumably from here on in they are able to worship God and speak about Him openly. We dont get to hear about the evangelistic opportunities this event must have afforded the three young rulers, but Im guessing there was a LOT of talk in court circles about what happened that day.  Even if the King wasn't prepared to acknowledge Yahweh as God maybe many others were. Im left wondering what was going on in the furnace. If the three young men met either Jesus or an angel, what did they talk about? And what impact did that meeting have on them.? I suspect they were more impacted by the meeting than the miracle.  And maybe thats the lesson for today.  We, thankfully, are not ever likely to be threatened with death for believing in Jesus. But we will all doubtless face various trials and problems and stresses and maybe even life-threatening events.  In the middle of life's trials we can pray for miracles, but we must not miss the meetings.  Which is easy to say and much, much harder to action.  We all know God is supposed to be with us in the storm , in our boat, walking through the fire with us, accompanying us on the road to Emmaus. Seeing Him is the hard part. Experiencing the reality rather than just knowing the theory.  Perhaps we should be regularly praying that when our fiery trials come we will have our eyes and hearts open to meet Him in miraculous ways