"...Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke and said to his advisors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire"? They answered and said unto the king, "True, O king." He answered and said, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have not been hurt; and the form of the fourth is like to the Son of God." (Daniel 3:23-25)
Christian life is filled with fiery furnaces from which the believer will not be rescued but through which he or she will learn to walk with confidence, accompanied by Christ.
I'm reminded of the nursery rhyme, We're Going On a Bear Hunt. The chorus goes, "you can't go over it, you can't go under it, we'll have to go through it". During life we tell ourselves, "we're not scared, we're not scared, what a beautiful day!". Then we encounter "grass, sharp pointy grass". So we "dodge, hop, dodge, hop", and "run, skip, run, skip", and "climb, climbing, climb up higher", and then finally "stumble, trip, stumble, trip". We do all of this believing we're in our own strength and then we find ourselves in a fiery furnace only to see another "like to the Son of God". We think "quick, get the binoculars!", and looking straight at Jesus we find He's always been "looking at me" and now He is walk me through.
"Be very quiet, get the phone, call the family, back at home, take a picture, have a look, zoom in closer", don't delay. Say, "we're not scared, it's a beautiful day" with Jesus.
It's the fire's of hell from which rescue is needed, and having been rescued from that fire, you can be confident that Christ will walk you through all lesser fires.
