Welcome back to our summer Bible study on The Book of Daniel, called Thrive. In this study, we are learning that regardless of what life throws at us and how difficult our circumstances may be, we can thrive, not just survive, in this challenging world.  Today marks our third week in Daniel Chapter 3.  We are taking our time and working our way through the incredible story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and the Fiery Furnace.  We are working through this chapter very intentionally because it is loaded with valuable lessons for us to learn and apply to our lives.   Hopefully, you have been following along, as we have covered some important topics so far.  First, we discussed the biggest similarity between Babylon and our world today: the primary way the world pushes against them and us.  It’s idol worship.  We need to see that idol worship is an assault on the heart, and in many ways, we live in a much harder time to defend ourselves from this assault from our enemy.  Why?  Because they could physically see the idols that Babylon pushed on them, while we typically do not.  Idol Worship is much sneakier today, which makes it easier for us to fall into than ever before.  God wants ALL of our hearts, minds, and souls.  Scripture is very clear on what God wants from us.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  NIV

Jesus doesn’t say love the Lord your God with some, or most of your heart, but ALL.  We give Him ALL of us.  When we do that, we experience our best life possible. But if you think about it, that also makes your enemy’s job simple.  He simply needs to get us to replace ALL with SOME or MOST in our lives, and the simplest way to do that is to push things on us that we want, would like, and even need in life. And our world presents us with many things to desire more than God in our lives.

Last week, Ken showed us how we can learn to stand up to pressure from the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  I hope you were paying attention because he gave us the key to standing tall under the pressures of this brutal world we live in today.  Do you remember what that was?  It’s to surrender our lives to God. Ken walked us to a decision they had clearly made, which allowed them to live in peace and freedom.  They didn’t fear outcomes in life.  They were not even worried about defending themselves against people of this world, and walked with peace despite the intense pressure they were under to do what the King wanted.  That powerful way to live came from their answer to a question we all must answer.  Will I live for myself, or will I fully surrender my life to God?  That is the choice we make before life hits, and it will help us immensely when life does.  We have seen the similarities between their culture and ours, and we have discussed how they managed to walk with so much peace under pressure. Now, today, we step into the Fiery Furnace with them and talk about trusting God when we are in the fires of life. So, let’s jump back into our story.  Ken left us last Sunday on quite a cliffhanger as we saw our three heroes of this story thrown into the fiery furnace!  Hopefully, you weren't too stressed this week waiting to hear what happened to them!  So, let’s jump back into the story.

Daniel 3:19 Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. 20 Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21 So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments. 22 And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in. 23 So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. NLT

The more we read about King Nebuchadnezzar, the more we learn just how much of a hothead this guy was.  He is enraged that these men dare to not do what he said.  I think it set him off even more that they weren’t afraid of him and that they responded to his power and threats peacefully, unemotionally, and without fear.  They didn’t need to defend themselves; they weren’t worried about the outcome of the fiery furnace, and to add to it, I’m pretty sure from Nebuchadnezzar's response here that he had not heard the word ‘no’ too often to his requests!  I mean, this is quite a tantrum!  His face is distorted with rage, and all rational thought is gone now, and he orders that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual, which I’m not sure makes any difference to the fiery death about to take place.  He ties them up…again, not sure what difference that would make either.  The fire is so hot that it kills the soldiers who threw them into the fire.  This is wild, but also where the story gets fun.

So, one thing is extremely clear: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trust God, and that is what we are discussing today - trusting God in the fires and pressures of our lives.  We are going to look at some things that happen when we trust God in the fires of our lives.  But you know, I just kept thinking as I was putting this talk together this week that this is a really solid sermon, with an eye-catching title: “4 Things God Does When We Trust Him In The Fire.”  But let’s be honest, it’s easy to talk about trusting God in the fire, but living that out…trusting God in the fires of our lives is a whole other thing.  It sounds good on a Sunday morning, but it’s something else when we find ourselves in desperate and painful situations in our lives!   I also believe that we humans want to trust God, and at times, life is so hard that we have no choice but to try to put our faith in God but still, when we do, we expect certain things that we believe God should give us or make happen in our lives, but the flip side of that is also true.  God expects some things of us as we trust Him, too!  We may even use some of the same words to describe what we expect, but we typically don’t envision the same things.   Here’s an example.  God wants to bless us.  We envision blessings as health, wealth, and happiness…but that isn’t necessarily what God means!  Today, we will discuss trusting God.  I’m going to show you four things that happen when we trust God in the fires of our lives. We will also examine the tensions we face because of our instincts as people when pressure hits, and how often God is up to something we want but isn’t going about it in ways that make sense to us.  So, let’s talk about trusting God in the fire, but let’s take it a step further and look at the difference between our instincts as people and what we want compared to what God wants from us, because there is often a difference between what we want and how life will go.  So, we left our heroes, tied up, fully clothed, and thrown into a fiery furnace that is so hot the people throwing them into the fire died. This isn’t good, but it’s where the story gets fun.

Daniel 3:24 But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did," they replied. 25 "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!" NLT

This is amazing and gives us so much to talk about.  It also gives us the first clear thing that happens when we trust God in the fire.  

When we trust God, He will walk through the fires of our lives with us!  

The King looks into the fire and, to his amazement, sees them walking around in the fire unharmed with a fourth person, who resembles a God, because it is God.  So, let’s talk, because as Christians, we know a couple of things.  We know that we are to trust God.  We also know that life will be hard at times, and that if we trust God, He will walk through fires with us.  We know this, believe this, and sing worship songs about this.  We know that God told us in Scripture that He will never leave us or forsake us.  We know Jesus’ words in The Great Commission and believe them to be true.

Matthew 28:20 “…And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." NLT

We know that God is with us at all times and walks through life with us, but when life hits and hits hard, what is our human instinct?  How do we typically feel?  We feel like we are all alone, often wondering where God is and if He cares at all.  When the fires in life hit, it’s easy to lose track of this incredible truth, that God is with us in the fires of our lives.  You may think, well, it’s easier for them because they are literally looking at a fourth figure walking with them in the fire, and I don’t get that benefit.  But that isn’t always the case either.  We could look to Jesus’ disciples, who taught us that you can physically be walking with Jesus and still struggle to trust Him.  Do remember that time they were out in a ship and a giant storm came up and they all thought they were going to die?  Jesus was physically with them, but they responded to adversity as most humans do.

Matthew 8:24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" 26 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. NIV

I’m sure they trusted Jesus.  They have given up their lives to follow Him…but it’s just different when the storms or fires of life hit.  Our human instinct is to ask the question, 'Where is God in this issue I’m facing?' or God, don’t you care that I’m drowning here?  It’s easy in these difficult moments to wonder and feel as if we are all alone.  Faith is crucial here; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego possessed a great deal of it, whereas the disciples had only a little at this time.  And it’s interesting; we will continue to see this throughout the story and Scripture, how adversity reveals our faith in God.  Let’s keep going here, because one thing I have always loved about Scripture is how it goes out of its way to give us specific descriptions of things as they happen.  We get a lot of examples of that in our story, like what we just read a moment ago.

Daniel 3:25 "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!" NLT

Did you see it?  Now we have four men, unbound, walking freely in the fire.  This gives us the second thing that happens when we trust God.  

When we trust God, He will burn off everything tying us down.  

It’s tough, but most of us live bound up, tied down, and most of the time, the ties that bind us down are self-imposed, or just a mental prison with no real physical ties or cages to lock us in.  We need to think about this.  What is it that holds you back or ties you down in life?  Do you know?  Have you ever thought about this?  What ties you up and keeps you from fully experiencing all that life could be?  I need to say something here that can be difficult to accept when we are walking through adversity in our lives.  Are you ready?  Sometimes, God will put you through the fire to burn off things that are tying you down in life.  This is why Scripture tells us over and over again how important pain and trials are in our lives.  Because it’s through pain that we learn, and become mature and complete, not lacking anything.  There is an old saying that has always resonated with me, and I want to share it today. 

“Pain never leaves you where it finds you.” - Unknown

This is so true and so important.  Pain never leaves you where it finds you, and that means pain can hit and leave you in a better place, but the opposite is true, too.  It could also leave you in a worse one.  It can be good or bad.  How we respond to it is such a big deal because we can be better for it, growing, learning, and becoming stronger for all we walk through…or not.  Pain won’t leave you where it finds you, but hopefully, as followers of Christ who love and trust God, it leaves us better, not worse.  Some grow and become mature and complete, lacking nothing, and their pain leaves them in a better place. Yet, many find that pain leaves them in a worse spot than where it found them, which we need to discuss because life will bring pain, and our response to it is so important.  So, in life, there may be no more important question for you to answer than this.

 Where does pain leave you? 

Because you will not get through life without pain, and pain will never leave you where it finds you, adding to that, God tells us why we experience fires in our lives throughout Scripture, as seen here, where God speaks through the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 48:10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.  Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. NLT

So, when you are in the fires of suffering, how do you respond?  As we trust God in the fires of our lives, all that ties us up can be burned away, freeing us up to live our best lives.  But we also need to be honest about this. Pain is painful, and while Scripture says we can consider great joy, or rejoice when it hits, no one enjoys pain…it is uncomfortable to put it mildly, but that is also why it never leaves you where it finds you.  So often, when we are in the fire of suffering, our human instincts don’t move us to grow, but the opposite.  Our instinct is to run away from the pain or to check out when life gets hard.  We hurt and we don’t like it, we focus on our circumstances rather than God, which is easy to do because pain demands our attention!  It’s tough to watch people walk through pain, but it’s harder to watch us make our lives harder by how we respond to it.  It’s so tough.  On top of that, as we focus on circumstances and wonder when they will change, we see other people who seem to have an easier life than ours.  They seem free and more peaceful than we are, and we conclude that they can enjoy life because their lives are easier than ours.  When pain hits, God wants it to refine us and make us better, while our flesh can take us in the complete opposite direction. We check out, we isolate, we complain, we blame, and see our circumstances as an excuse as to why our lives aren’t where we want them to be.  Pain never leaves you where it finds you. God wants us to trust Him in the fire, and when we do, we can be better for all we walk through stepping into God’s true design for our lives, we can be freed up to achieve everything we want in life, rather than the fire being the reason we can’t achieve everything we want.  Do you see it?  This is such an important thing to talk about, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable.  I want you to see this.  Fact one: Pain never leaves you where it finds you.  Fact two: You will not avoid pain in your life.  So, think this through, where does pain leave you?  This is the key to experiencing your best life.  While we could talk about that specific point all day, we need to keep going with our story, because in the next few verses, we find another thing that happens when we trust God, and I think this one may be the most misunderstood benefit of trusting God. 

Daniel 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!"So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27 Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke! NLT

I will be transparent with you here.  I find some tension in what we can conclude about this part of the story.  Some people read this and think to themselves, if I trust God, I will come through the fires of life unharmed.  And, I hope that is true.  The issue is that it isn’t always true.  You may walk through the fires of your life and come out unharmed, but I can point to a lot of wonderfully faithful people who can’t say that they came out of painful moments unharmed in life.  As people, we like outcomes and results in all areas of our lives. We want them with as little pain as possible, yes, this worked out great for them by our human concepts of coming out unharmed, they didn’t even lose one eyebrow hair, didn’t even smell like smoke….but as people who love and trust God we have to remember the focus of our lives is not today, the outcomes we desire are eternal, not in the now, the outcome is Heaven someday, not an easier life or better circumstance today.  If we could understand that and focus on the process rather than the outcomes in our lives, we would be in a much better and healthier place.  The outcome for someone who trusts God is Heaven someday; the process we must focus on is to follow Him.  Some read this and may think I’m being a little negative because God can protect us fully, and we can come out of our fires completely unharmed, just like them.  I agree, but the reality is some of us walk through tough times and come out of our fires with a limp afterwards. The outcome is Heaven, the process is to follow, regardless of what is thrown at us today.  So that is an area of the story that Ken is going to focus on next week in a very important conversation, so let’s keep moving because this next point is so important, as people who want to share God with people of this world who desperately need Him.

Daniel 3:28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!" NLT

This gives us another incredible thing that happens when we trust God.

Trusting God in the fire is a powerful witness, showing God to people of this world.  

King Nebuchadnezzar, who wanted to be a god, who worships pagan gods, who has mocked and disrespected God in every way, has just become a believer in God. We keep talking about the realities of life, and the fact that you will walk through trials and pain in your life.  You will walk through fires.  The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gives us a clear image of what trusting God and responding to pain with faith can do for those around us who don’t know God.  How we handle painful trials in our lives is a clear way our faith life is revealed to people all around us. 

Have you ever been around someone who is walking through something horrible in their lives, and while they are clearly in pain, they seem to be peaceful, and can’t stop talking about God and how faithful and loving He is?  I have seen this a few times, and it always impacts my heart.  A few years ago, my Aunt Crystal was diagnosed with cancer and fought it bravely.  There was a point where they thought she had beaten it, and we were all very happy…but then, bad news came.  The cancer was back and had spread, and she was given a short amount of time to live. She could treat it, but it was now not about recovery but about the time she had left with her loved ones.  She was married with three young children, and she was only a few years older than me; it hit the family hard.  But what was incredible to watch was how peaceful and joyful she was.  She couldn’t stop sharing God with people.  At her funeral, it was incredible to see the line of people, so far out of the church door that they had to stop the viewing to start the service, and it was mostly people she had impacted in the hospital and cancer ward over those final moments of her life.  Her response to the most difficult fire possible was a powerful testimony, and people who didn’t know God saw it and wanted what she had.  It was incredible how many people saw her ability to trust God in the worst possible circumstances. Her response is beautiful, but very rare, though.  Our human instincts are just so opposite of that.  Often when we are in the fire, we get angry with God, we turn negative, we get depressed, we blame ourselves, or other people, or God for the spot we find ourselves in, we may check out on life, many isolate and cut themselves off from their Spiritual Families.  We just want to escape and try to numb the pain away.  Often, our emotions leak out of us, we verbally process with anyone who will listen, grow depressed, anxious, and everyone around us feels that too.  Now, no one blames you for that because pain is so intense, but it’s in the pain that our true faith life is revealed, and it can be a powerful testimony, revealing God to those in deep need of Him, or it can have the opposite effect as well.  So, just to finish out our story, let’s read the last verse from this incredible chapter and talk for a bit because it gives us one more thing that trusting God will do.

Daniel 3:30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon. NLT

So, once again, there is a test in their lives, and they pass it and get promoted yet again, which leaves us with the last thing we will look at today when it comes to trusting God.  

When we trust God, we will be rewarded.  

Now, for most humans, when we hear that we will be rewarded by God for trusting Him, we think to ourselves Sweet, this means that my life will get easier!  We hear reward, and we think of health, wealth, and happiness today!  We think reward me NOW!  But God’s reward isn’t NOW, it’s LATER. Our ultimate reward is forever with Him.

So, as we close today, let’s think about where we have been.  We talked about trusting God in the fire, and the idea that when we can do that, and not slide into so many fleshly instincts, we can experience a lot of amazing things in our lives.  We learned that when we trust God in the fire, God will walk with us through it.  When we trust God in the fire, God will burn off all the things that tied us up and were holding us back, so we can experience more in life.  We learned that when we trust God in the fire, we show God to a world full of people who desperately need Him, and we continue to see that fires of life will come; our response is so important, and it’s our response that reveals who we truly are.  Pain never leaves you where it finds you, but it sure does reveal what is going on in our hearts. 

So I was tempted to keep going, and dive into some other areas of Scripture to reinforce what I’m saying, but I think we need to stop here, and slow down and personalize this for our lives, because what we are talking about today is a reality for every human being.  We won’t avoid it; life is hard, and we will face fires and tests in our lives.  We must see that a heart transformed by God sees and responds to the fires completely differently than someone who hasn’t experienced God and doesn’t trust Him.  So, let’s take a moment and think this through and try to personalize these questions today. 

Let’s start here:

How do you respond to the fires of your life?  Do you trust God in the fire? 

What do you do with those two facts I told you about today? Do you remember them?  

• Fact one: Pain never leaves you where it finds you.  
• Fact two: You will not avoid pain in your life.  

So, think this through, where does pain leave you?  Are you better for what you walk through or worse? 

One last question, which is so important as you walk through life, dealing with the reality of adversity alongside others as you navigate life together.

Does your response to painful trials in your life reveal God to people of this world or not?  

Do people look at you in the furnace of suffering in your life, see your response, and say, Wow, I need what he or she has in their life.  Your life is a testimony, and your response to pain, stress, and life itself says a great deal about your faith.  So, think about this and be honest about your life, your heart, and your faith today.  What does your response to the fire tell people around you about God?  Would someone who doesn’t know God look at how you respond to the fires of your life and say, Wow, I want and need what they have, or not? 

It’s rare to see people trust God in the fires of life.  Pain will never leave you where it found you, and we pray that as your put God first in your life, and fall in in love with Him, as you make the decision to surrender your life to Him fully, you will respond to life as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did, which not only helped them through this brutal moment of their lives but showed God to people all around them who desperately need Him in their lives.  You want to thrive, not just survive, in this brutal world?  Trust God in the pressures and challenges of life's fires and watch what happens.