The fire was already hot to begin with, but now it’s seven times hotter! Think about those tests and trials you face that are already challenging, but then something happens and they seem impossible to overcome. When you are determined to live for Jesus Christ, be prepared: you are not exempt from the fiery furnace. Sometimes you will be handpicked to be thrown right in there.
The Bible says that the king’s countenance changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Have you ever experienced that, someone changing up on you all of a sudden? The king was furious with them for not following his decree. He was the king, and they were supposed to know their roles and follow his orders. He’d show them! That’s why he ordered for the furnace to be seven times hotter. “I’m the king, and nobody defies me! Let’s see if your god can save you from this.” And the fire was so hot that even the men who tossed the Hebrew boys into the flames were killed.
Recently, I noticed something in verse 23 that made me look even closer: and these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. I’ve read it lots of times, but it hit differently. They are not just in the furnace; they fell down bound in the midst of it. They entered the fire all tied up, and then they fell down. Have you ever been so low that you wonder, “Lord, how in the world did I get here?”
Have you ever felt consumed by the stress around you? Have you been wrapped up in turmoil, pain, grief, sadness, or even sickness—and then the fire gets even hotter? Look to Jesus; He’s right there beside you.
Ladies, sometimes we will fall down in the fire because some experiences really do bring us to our knees. But that’s exactly where we need to be when you think about it, on our knees at the feet of Jesus Christ. They fell down bound. Sometimes the cares of life bind us up so tightly. It’s hard to move. It’s hard to breathe. But if you look at verses 24 and 25, there is a beautiful promise to firmly hold. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like theSon of God.”
The Manna Chef 