"The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times." Verse 6
I believe this is true. But it is only the words of the Lord that are pure. As soon as we humans start speaking, they become impure. But we do the best we can with them. Sometimes, God's words are hard to understand. So we have to try to explain them, either to others or to ourselves. But other times, we make them harder to understand than they really are. The worst times are when we say that the Bible says things that it doesn't say. That really sets me off.
Daniel 3:19-27
I must say I'm a little disappointed that we didn't spend more time in Ezekiel, but here we are in Daniel. Interesting note: I'm pretty sure (although I might be wrong) that Daniel is one of the rare people in Scripture that nothing negative is ever said about him. Doesn't mean he was perfect. But he lived a pretty exemplary life.
Today's passage is the famous story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. Side note: It's always been a mystery to me why we speak of S, M, & A by their Babylonian names instead of their Hebrew names, which were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The reason it's a mystery to me is that "Daniel" is Daniel's Hebrew name. His Babylonian name was Belteshazzar. Ok. Moving along.
The three guys (Daniel wasn't in this story) have refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image (or, if you prefer Veggie Tales, the chocolate bunny). And, threatened with what appears to be fiery death, they tell the king that God will protect them in the furnace, but even if he doesn't, they still wouldn't bow down to him anyway. This angered Nebby so much that he ordered the furnace heated up seven times! I guess it would kill them better?? Heh. Anyway, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego get tossed in the furnace. The flames are so hot that they guys that throw them in get killed. The next part is fun.
"Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm and said, 'Didn't we throw three men, bound hand and foot, into the fire?'
'That's right, O king,' they said.
'But look!' he said. 'I see four men, walking around freely in the fire, completely unharmed! And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods!'
Nebuchadnezzar went to the door of the roaring furnace and called in, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the High God, come out here!'
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego...
walked...
out...
of the...
fire."
Did you get that? They walked out. Unharmed. "...not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them!"
Here are three guys who had pretty much perfect trust in God. I don't know if I have the kind of trust that would allow me to be calmly cast into a burning furnace.
How would it have affected your relationship with God if you had been one of the casual observers in this scenario? I wonder. Would it have had any effect at all? It's hard for me to put myself in these kinds of settings, because I don't know what kind of person I would have been, had I been around back then. We like to assume that, if we are believers now, then we would have been then. Who knows? But I do know that it would be hard to observe something like this and not come away changed in some way.
"I can't do this."
True. But God can.
Grace and peace, friends.