Who is going through the fire with you?

4-10-16

None of our lives are perfect. From the outside somebody may seem to have it all together and be friends with everyone, but we all have some form of trouble. The question isn't how to avoid problems. What we need to ask is how to get through them.

In Daniel chapter 3, Daniel and three of his friends were in captivity in Babylon when the king decreed that people were only allowed to pray to him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego continued to pray to God, and they were thrown alive into a fiery furnace. Verse 25 says, "'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 the Son of God.'" God sent comfort to these faithful men, and they survived. As a result the king made a decree that nobody could speak against their God.

We may not suffer such intense persecution as these men did in our lifetimes, but Christians across the world are dying for their faith now. We will go through trials, and when we do, who is with us?

There are both evil and good forces at work in this world. In Daniel 10:12, an angel comes to Daniel telling him that he had been sent 21 days earlier when Daniel started praying, but that he was hindered. We don't see angels physically today, or if we do we don't realize it, but they are at work. Their counterparts, servants of the devil, are also working.

If we live as Christians we can be sure that God and His army is with us always. Acts 17:27 says, "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." God stays with His people. Hebrews 13:5-6 says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" We can choose to leave Him, through sin, but He won't desert us.

Sometimes it's hard to feel God with us. Maybe we're looking in the wrong places. I Kings 19:11-12 says, "Then He said, 'Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice." God doesn't always show Himself in some flashy way, but that doesn't mean He isn't there.

After my dad passed away, even while I was grieving, I felt a peace that could only come from God. It wasn't that I wasn't sad, but Someone was sharing it with me. In my work as a physical therapist, there are days that I have struggles at work. Maybe it's a patient who I'm concerned about. I can't violate privacy and talk to anyone. Sometimes it feels like I'll explode if I don't share it. But God already knows.

When we get thrown in the furnace, cast into the lions' den, or stranded on a ship in a storm, we can have confidence that God is with us. He won't leave His people. If we are faithful to Him, He shares everything that happens in our lives with us. It doesn't mean He takes away our problems, but He will help us through them. We will emerge victorious, and our ultimate victory will be Heaven.

May the Lord bless and keep you,

Heather