Walk in the Fire

“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, Your Majesty.’ 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 3:24–25 

When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon created a towering gold image, he declared that anyone who failed to worship it would be tossed into a blazing furnace. Fearing God more than the king, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, were bound hand and foot, and thrown into the inferno.  

That’s when the king and his officials witnessed “four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Who was the fourth man? An Old Testament appearance of Christ!  

But notice this. These men were walking in the midst of the fire. We tend to think heartbreaks and tragedies will stop us dead in our tracks—and keep us from moving forward in life. But the truth is, a trial is one of the streets through which we move to reach our destiny, a road leading us deeper into the heart of Christ. 

Lord, I have so often seen suffering as something to escape—a puzzle needing to be swiftly solved so I can “get back to normal.” But maybe You are inviting me to walk in the fire rather than cower in self-protection. It’s so good to know You will be walking with me.