With A Bend Ago

So, I was recently reading about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (which I usually say like a-bend-ago..."i drove around a bend awhile ago.") These three guys are in the book of Daniel, along with King Nebuchadnezzar. The king builds this giant gold statue (90 feet high!) and wants everyone to worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego quietly opt NOT to worship this statue because they worship another God. And, of course, somebody has to go and tattle tale, telling the king that they’re not following his rules. Ticked off, the king orders them thrown into a fiery blaze—so hot, in fact, that the soldiers who were doing the king’s dirty job (throwing them into the fire) burned to death.

Crazily enough though, the king could see them walking around in the fire unharmed. What the heck? And even more crazy, there was a fourth person in there with them who the king said looked "like a son of the gods."

Nebuchadnezzar went to the door of the roaring furnace and called in, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the High God, come out here!"
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fire.
All the important people, the government leaders and king's counselors, gathered around to examine them and discovered that the fire hadn't so much as touched the three men—not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them!
(Daniel 3:26-27)

Now, I’ve heard this story multiple times, most while I was little and in Sunday School. And really, this is not exactly a kid-friendly story. Three guys being thrown into a fire? And the same with Jonah. Being swallowed by a whale?! What about Noah and the flood? SCARY! But anyways, all the times I’ve heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I never stopped to consider the significance of God being in the fire with them. The sticking point has always been that they managed to come out alive—not even just alive but without even smelling like fire? And that is, indeed, worth a sticking point—God saved them. But so is the fact that He was there with them. (Maybe I’m slow on the uptake and everyone has already thought of this and spent time thinking about this. If so, read no more.)

God could easily have saved them and not necessarily been present. Chances are Nebuchadnezzar would still have been freaked out. He would have still presumed that that there was something behind this God that they followed. The three amigos had, after all, told him beforehand that their God would save them. (I’m sure 'ole Neb laughed in their faces at that point.) So, I just don’t really think God needed to be seen walking around with them in the fire to get His point across. And really, I probably wouldn't have needed convincing either. I get it--something very powerful saved them. So, God didn't need to be present to save them or to prove that He was powerful, but I think His presence does send another message. He’s with us, not on the sidelines, but in the game! Not just in church, but in the office. Not far away, but right beside us. Not just watching the fiery blaze from a safe distance with the other onlookers. But IN the thick of it WITH us.