The Changing Fire

Daniel 3:26
“Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.”

The verse above comes from the story about the three Hebrew children who would not bow down to the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. The threat and eventual action by Nebuchadnezzar was to throw these men into the fiery furnace. To their credit, even when they were faced with the fire they did not cower or change.

However, the thing that changed Nebuchadnezzar and those around him was not the stand that these men took, but it was the fire that changed them. The phrase that showed what changed the thinking is found in the verse above when it says, “…Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.” You will notice that these men came in the “midst of the fire.” It was the fire that changed those around them. What happened in the fire is what changed the people around them. It was the fire that revealed to their world Who was with them. Let me share with you some thoughts that will help you with your struggles in life.

First, the fire reveals your strength to you. The three Hebrew children never saw how strong they were until they were faced with the fire. You will never know your spiritual strength until you are faced with hard times. One of the reasons you need hard times is so that you learn how strong you are. It is easy to say what you will do when you are not faced with a fiery trial, but the fiery trials reveal to you your strengths and weaknesses. Trials expose the cracks in your spiritual character, but they also show you that you have it in you to do more than what you thought you could do. You will never know how spiritually strong you are until you face trials.

Second, the fire reveals God’s presence to others. Nebuchadnezzar and those with him never saw God’s presence with the three Hebrew children until they were in the fire. God was with these three men before they walked into the fire, but the fire is what exposed God’s presence in their life to the world around them. Those around you will never see your God until you go through the fire. The fire has a way of removing the world’s blinders to see the reality and presence of God. Without the fire, the world will never see God’s presence in your life. God is with you, but the fire is the glasses that allows the world to see God clearly in your life.

Third, the fire changes the lives around you. It is interesting that these men “came forth in the midst of the fire.” The fire is the changing agent that turns the mediocre into the miraculous. The fire is what changes the average into the influential. The fire is what changes the unbelieving mind into a faith-filled mind. You will never make a change in your world until you stay in the fire.

My friend, stop running from your fire. Stop complaining about the hardness of your fire. It is the fire that will allow you to make an influence on those around you. Without the fire, the world will never see God, but He is revealed with the fire, and people change when they see God. What are you going to do? Stop running from your fire and realize that God is about to use you to make a change in your world with the fire.

Author: Allen Domelle