The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is a popular one because of the seemingly fairy tale ending when these three men are saved from a fiery death and given a promotion by the man who was trying to kill them, King Nebuchadnezzar.  The problem is that with this amazing story many Christians and non-Christians alike take it not for what it truly is, but as they interpret it…a fairy tale.  The thing is, it’s the furthest thing from a fairy tale.

                A quick version of the story is this: King Nebuchadnezzar builds an “image of gold” and issues a decree that when people hear the sound of a horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes or any other kind of music, they must fall down to their knees and worship this golden image.  If anyone doesn’t, they will be thrown into a fiery furnace.  So then these tattle-tail astrologers tell the King about the 3 Jewish men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) who are not obeying his orders to worship this image.  Nebuchadnezzar then tells them face to face in his fury that they will be thrown into the fire if they do not worship his idol and “then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”  I wonder if he thinks his metal “god” can. They respond that they don’t have to defend themselves to him.  The boldness and faith of these three men in their next statement is something we need to ask God to give us!  They say “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”  Nebuchadnezzar, furious, throws them into the furnace then cranks up the heat seven times its usual temperature.  The guards manning the entrance both are incinerated upon the furnace door opening, but these three mighty warriors are not harmed at all.  The King watches the men walk around his mighty furnace unharmed while a fourth figure is with them.  Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the figure as the Son of God and calls the men to come out of the furnace at once.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk out without any damage whatsoever.  Nebuchadnezzar recognized the men’s devotion and faith in God and noted how they did not compromise and how God blessed them for that, issuing another famous decree that anyone who speaks out against “their God” would be cut into pieces and their houses would be destroyed.  The three men are then promoted in Babylon…

It is safe to say that in this world, there is fire all around us.  Nobody in their right mind would say that this world is perfect, fair, and easy to live in.  There is evil all around us, and in us!  The fact of the matter is, we ourselves are fuel to those flames.  Our sin ignites that fire on a daily basis, and keeps it going.  We are so worried about being burnt, our eyes are constantly on the flames.  So we get torched over and over again and wonder if there is a way to resist being engulfed by these flames.  The fact is that sin remains.  We live in a fallen world separated from God, our creator and without him there is nothing but flames.  What if there was some kind of fire retardant we could cover ourselves in daily?  A safe haven.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had it!  It’s called faith.    

In the Christian world, there are so many ideas on what faith really is and we tend to over complicate it. This stuff in the bible, it’s real.  These aren’t fairy tales. Faith is faith, believing but not seeing, doing but not knowing; trusting.  However, having faith is not completely understood.  There is serious power when one has complete and utter faith in God, and Jesus Christ their savior.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego understood this completely!  When there was no possible, logical, plausible way of them surviving being thrown into a furnace, they did not fear and did not doubt that God had already saved them!  Even if they did die, they knew they would be met face to face with their savior, so where is the fear in death?  Faith in God sending his only son to die for us changes lives, and there is no circumstance that is irrevocable with him.  A beautiful freedom from fear and doubt is born in our souls and we no longer see the flames, we just see the peace that transcends all understanding.  Did God not tell us that if we believed, we would see the glory of him? (John 11:40). 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego clung to him to get them out of the flames.  We should do the same.  Repent from our sins daily and ask him to change our hearts and give us more faith!  He wants to make us valiant warriors…even more than that.  We just need to understand his power and put our faith in who he is. 

So when the going gets tough and you don’t know where you are headed, keep on walking.  It may just take you out of those flames.  By the way, you aren’t walking alone.