Remember the story of the Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3? Three teenage Hebrew boys who stood their ground and refused to be intimidated by the threats of a furious King Nebuchadnezzar.
Like you and I have often experienced, their loyalty to God was rewarded by being chucked into a fiery furnace. No, it wasn’t a parable, a metaphor or special effects – they were thrown into real fire. The furnace was so hot that the men who threw them in were killed by the heat.
You see, this was such an amazing miracle because we can wear armours and helmets, pick up shields to protect us against the enemy’s arrows/spears but what can you wear to protect yourself from fire? NOTHING. These boys had a ZERO chance of survival.
To his astonishment, when he looked into the furnace expecting to see nothing but ashes, Nebuchadnezzar discovered that these boys were still alive and not only that, they had angelic company – there were four people in the fire!
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out of the fiery furnace alive and didn’t even smell of smoke!
Think back over the last 10 months of 2020. Think back to those distressing moments where it felt like you were cast in to a pit or furnace of affliction and the odds of survival were extremely slim. Your friends/colleagues counted you out. You counted yourself out. But God kept you company in the midst of the fire and made sure not even one strand of hair on your head got burnt.
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Father, I thank you for your abiding presence so far in 2020. You have been the fourth man in the fire with me. Thank you for not forsaking me.
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