Sometimes A Little Fire Is Just What We Need

Do you like pancakes? How about a grilled cheese sandwich, maybe even with bacon? Yum! Now that I have your mouth watering, I’ve got a question to ask: Can you imagine being a pancake, gooey batter being transformed into a fluffy breakfast treat by the searing heat of the griddle? Or being a grilled cheese sandwich, sizzling in the frying pan until the cheese becomes melted perfectly 

It’s a good thing pancakes and grilled sandwiches aren’t alive because of the intense heat they’re subjected to before we can enjoy them. If I believed in reincarnation – which I don’t – I’d hate to come back as a grilled cheese sandwich in the making.

But aren’t there times when circumstances make you feel like you’re going through fire? Some colloquialisms even use that as reference. Crime suspects being interrogated are described as being “grilled.” It must be a painful experience when detectives turn up the heat in the interrogation room.

 

Then there’s an old favorite, “going from the frying pan into the fire.” I picture someone on the local interstate with delusions of being a NASCAR driver, exceeding the speed limit by 20 miles per hour or more. When he sees a police car in pursuit, the would-be ‘Earnhardt’ realizes he’s in the frying pan. But then he foolishly compounds his plight by speeding up and trying to evade law enforcement. Bye-bye frying pan, hello fire!

 

We don’t have to be lawbreakers, however, to experience fiery times. It could be a dreadful health diagnosis. Being fired from a job. Struggling financially with bill collectors having you on speed dial. Being served papers that someone is taking you to court on a serious matter. It may be a prodigal child who’s shown no indication of ever returning home or changing a destructive lifestyle.

 

Peter the apostle became very familiar with adverse situations. His writings make several references to “fiery trials.” Writing to “God’s elect,” scattered in many places, Peter felt the need to encourage them: 

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

 

Elsewhere in the same letter, Peter addressed the persecution early Christians were facing – a different kind of “fire.” He wrote, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

 

Taking a serious look at the Scriptures, we find even the most devout believers having to endure severe trials and tribulations. A notable example involved three fellows with the strange-sounding names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

 

These guys, along with Daniel, had been handpicked as trainees for serving the king of Babylon. Even though taken captive in Babylon, these were to become Nebuchadnezzar’s fair-haired boys. They had it made. Until they didn’t.

 

King Neb had created a golden image of himself. Seeking the deference he felt he deserved, the king had commanded that at the sound of horns and other instruments, everyone in Babylon was to bow down and worship his image. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew one of God’s 10 commandments was not to worship any idols, regardless of who or what they represented. The Lord God alone was to be worshiped, and Shad, Mesh and Abe took that command very seriously, even though they were in Babylon and not Israel.

 

When Nebuchadnezzar learned, “They neither serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” – he literally got hot under the collar. He gave them an option: “…if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace” (Daniel 3:12-15).

 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood their ground, responding, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it…. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

 

Enraged, the king had the furnace super-heated and had his strongest soldiers tie them up and throw them into the inferno. The fire was so hot it killed the soldiers who carried them to the furnace. But the three Israelites weren’t consumed. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar could see them strolling around in the midst of the fire, accompanied by a mysterious fourth person.

 

When the king relented and allowed the men to leave the furnace, they had not a scratch. Their hair had not been singed. They didn’t even smell like smoke! This resulted in a dramatic change of heart for Nebuchadnezzar. He not only declared, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,” but he also decreed no one should offer any opposition to their God (Daniel 3:26-29).

 

I think there’s a lesson in there for us. Not only that the Lord is sovereign over all circumstances and can protect His children from harm, but also that as people observe whatever “fires” we’re going through, they can perceive our unwavering faith in God and perhaps be drawn to Him as well.

 

Best of all, while none of us intentionally seeks out hardship – the “fires” that can pop up so unexpectedly – they are often God’s best way for developing us into the people He desires for us to be. As Romans 5:3-4 tells us, “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope.” Think about that the next time you make pancakes – or a grilled cheese sandwich.