Through the Fire

"Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed..." -- Daniel 3:19

This morning I was studying Daniel 3 -- "The Fiery Furnace". The verse above popped out at me -- that phrase: "and the expression on his face changed". Oh my. I know that expression. I know that kind of fury. I have been on the receiving end of it many times. But the times that disturb me most is when I have been the face behind the fury.

Briefly, the history behind "The Fiery Furnace" is this: King Nebuchadnezzar builds a 90' gold idol to himself and orders all the land to bow to it in worship. Three Jewish men -- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego -- refuse on the grounds they worship God and God alone. The king likes these men, has given these men positions of prominence in his kingdom. When he finds out they refuse his order, he sends for them. He gives them ample opportunity to deny the charges. He reviews the edict with them -- just in case they misunderstood. But -- no misunderstanding -- they still refuse, saying, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." 

The next verse says, "Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated." That's some serious rage, there. If the consequence of defying the king's order was a fiery furnace, why not just throw them in and be done with it? Why get so bent out of shape? 

The flash point seems to be their words, "we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." In Nebuchadnezzar's day, that's what people did -- they made idols, "graven images" of their gods. Nebuchadnezzar made an idol to his god: himself. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego's refusal to serve and worship the king's gods was a refusal to serve and worship him! Nebuchadnezzar had invested in them; maybe he'd even felt some sort of affection toward them. He had summoned them, after all, giving them a chance to deny or explain. He had reviewed his order with them, making sure they hadn't missed the memo. He had been so good to them. He had taken time out of his busy schedule to speak to them personally. And he, therefore, took their refusal very personally! After all he had done...

Before Mom came to live with us, another family member was staying at Chez Murphe'. This guest's stay ended rather abruptly when the enforcement of a rule became inevitable. We had long attempted patience, negotiation, persuasion, caution -- to no avail. It was time for our guest to find other accommodations. That is, until our guest threatened us with "squatter's rights" and made a few other threats to our home, possessions, personal safety and peace of mind. Then it was time for our guest to leave immediately -- alternative accommodations or no. The eviction did not go well, and I blame myself. I should have rested in the Lord. I should have been more loving, or at least, calm. I should have recalled my "peace of mind" being found squarely in Jesus, and acted accordingly. But "this ingrate, this Judas had not only kicked my goodness and my grace back to me -- spit on it! -- but then had the audacity to threaten what belonged to me!" Oh, yes. The old me had been released, and everyone suffered for it. Ego, ego, ego.

Some of the situations I have gotten myself into over the years have cost me a great deal. When I saw the things I had regained being threatened, I freaked. "I did this; I worked hard to climb out of that, and you are not going to take my accomplishments away. And coming from some germ I have helped?! You would be nowhere without me, without my help!" I didn't say those things, but the things I did say... My tongue still stings. I sounded just like that furious king. That king who had built an idol to himself 90' tall. That king who commanded all the land to worship that god just as he did. I was that way before; I know I was that way before. But, I gotta tell you, seeing myself that way in spite of my relationship with Jesus? Well, that shocked me. Sadly, I don't think it shocked our guest. I think our guest walked away "knowing" Jesus had made no difference whatsoever in me. That makes more than my tongue sting.

But the Christian life is not an "arrived" kind of thing. My old nature still works to draw me back. I discovered that day, the statue I had built to me stood tall, and not just tall -- no, much worse -- at least 90' deep. That monument was entrenched -- despite my equally deep love for the Lord! Praise God, though, He is still working on tearing it down, bit by bit, accomplishment by accomplishment. I know this, because He brought me to the "Fiery Furnace" today, and I know He will bring me through it.