the fourth in the fire

The Word for today:
Daniel 3

I love Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!

I wish I could go to Wal-Mart and buy a big poster of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are like the Three Musketeers of faith!

But it's o.k. if I don't have a big poster of my heroes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Because most of all (as you've gathered!) I just like saying "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego."

Certainly there is musicality in their names. And certainly their unwavering faith in God makes our own spirits sing. But the best part of the story is "The Fourth in the Fire." Let's let the story tell itself:

The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?"

They replied, "Certainly, O king."

He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."  (Daniel 3:22-25)

Well, I've got some news for Nebuchadnezzar. The fourth in the fire "looks like a son of the gods" because he is the Son of God!

May our faith be strong enough to see him there with us in the midst of our trials and trying circumstances.

But even when our faith wavers, he's still there. The hell he endured on the cross made Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace seem like just a warm breeze.

Look right through your troubles and you'll begin to make out his form. Troubles, in fact, help us see him more clearly.

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