I Don't Wanna Smell Like Smoke!

This study in the book of Daniel is phenomenal! Yesterday we had the video portion and we looked at Daniel 3. Many of you know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego in the fiery furnace from childhood. We looked at seven different aspects of that instance yesterday, but today I'd like to focus on just two.

If you aren't familiar with the story, I encourage you to go to www.biblegateway.com and do a Passage Lookup of Daniel 3. I won't copy it all here for sake of room. But I will copy the part I'd like to look at this morning:

Daniel 3:26-30 (New King James Version; www.biblegateway.com)

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.
27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!
29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

We all go through fiery trials in our lives, don't we? Some are little birthday candles and some feel like roaring forest fires. But nonetheless, they are a fiery trial that God wants to see us through. We talked yesterday about the different scenarios of the outcome of a fiery trial. The first is that God would deliver us from the fire (remove the trial). The second is that God would deliver us through the fire (give us strength to see it through). The final is that God would deliver us out of that fire and right into His arms (taking us home through the trial). I can't imagine that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were even thinking that the second was a possible option. I'm sure they were either hoping they'd get tossed in and the fire would divinely go out or that they would certainly die and go home to be with their Savior. When God miraculously delivered them out of the fire, verse 27 tells us they were not even singed and that the smell of fire was not on them.

Wouldn't that be great? To go through one of life's trials and not even smell like smoke? So many times I know that I make sure everyone knows I'm going through a trial. (That's the Drama Queen part of me, isn't it, Mom?) But yesterday's lesson encouraged me to forget about that. This isn't to say that I won't answer when people ask how I'm doing. But I'd like to be going through something, big or small, and when it does come up in conversation, have someone say, "Wow, I didn't even realize...you don't even smell like smoke!"

If I can keep my trials between myself and my Savior, but share it with my prayer warriors so they, too, can lift it up in prayer, I'd come out of it giving Him glory and being free and clear of any lingering stench.

It's hard to watch those you love go through a trial. We have someone very dear in our family who is going through what is possibly the hardest trial of his life. And though I love him dearly, he reaks of smoke. Everywhere he goes, he has a scowl on his face, or worse, just sits there and says nothing. Depression may be a part of it, but I'll be praying that he turns to the Savior and gives the trial back, fully and intentionally. We'd all love to see him without that cloud of smoke around his head.

And I'd love to be without that cloud in every trial and be remembered for giving Him the glory in my last days.

That brings me to my second point. This instance is the last we see of or hear from Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. King Nebuchadnezzar is so impressed that he gives God glory, commands that no one talk bad about their God, and he promotes the three men. As our study said yesterday, the last we hear of their names is in the mention of God's fame.

Wouldn't that be something? The last time people hear of our name is in mention of how powerful and awesome our God is. That trial may be so big that the only option is scenario #3. But I don't wanna smell like smoke...I wanna go praisin'!