Isaiah 43:1-3 reads: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned; and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Some may make the point that God is speaking directly to Israel, and they’re not wrong. However, hasn’t the Lord redeemed us through Christ’s blood? And isn’t the Holy One of Israel our Savior, as well?
As a Christian, what is the “fire?” The fire could be any situation we don’t want to go through or any experience we would like to avoid, or even anything we don’t want to do. Who wants cancer? Who wants to apologize to the office jerk for gossiping about them? Granted, these experiences are not even close to each other on any scale, but it’s the point. These, and any situation between them, could be the “fire.”
From outside of the fire, we’re always debating whether God allowed the suffering or if God caused the suffering. When we’re actually in the middle of the fire, caused or allowed matters a lot less than getting out of the fire, right? We’re always singing wherever God wants us to go, we’ll go; whatever He wants us to do, we’ll do; we’ll lay our lives down for You, Lord! Then we pray and pray for this situation to end, right?
Please don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying we shouldn’t commit our lives to Him through songs because we can’t hold up our promises; it’s our heart’s desire to serve the Living God! And I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray to be delivered from our situations, whatever they might be; we are commanded to pray at all times and in all things. But we have to be honest with ourselves, we are a paradox, and we need to be ready to laugh at ourselves, right?
Recently, I was assigned a less-than desirable project at work. For a month I worked on it and worked on it; it definitely was not an assignment I would have volunteered for, not even a little. When I wasn’t working, I began thinking about what else I could to make money—my thoughts went everywhere! At one point, I considered flipping burgers! And some of the ideas were even good but they would have taken some time to get established to make any money at them. Basically, I had no quick option to get out of my situation.
One day, as I was pondering how long we could last financially if I quit, I realized—God showed me or allowed me to see—that I wasn’t serious about doing something different for work, I was trying to get out of the pressure of this one project! This single project was my current fire!
I had been in prayer and prayer for God’s help and guidance on this project, and I knew He was helping me. I was trying to be Christ-like through this project, but I had come to that place where I was weary of the “fire,” and I started thinking of ways to deliver myself from it. It’s not sin to get a new job, that’s not my point. I had been telling God, “whatever You want to do is fine; however You want to handle it is fine.” But deep inside I was looking for a way out. We always want a way out of our fiery circumstances, don’t we? And sometimes He provides that. But sometimes, God preserves us through the circumstances.
In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are literally faced with the fiery furnace. They are told to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue and their response is fantastic: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV).
Wow! A total disregard for their own lives to worship the true and living God!
We’re all so familiar with the story we often don’t realize that it could have played any other way. God could have struck down Nebuchadnezzar, or made the earth split open and swallow the furnace, or had the massive statue crumble, or whatever. The LORD could have delivered them from the fiery furnace. But He didn’t. Our God preserved them through the fire, personally. After they are tossed into the furnace, we are shown that Jesus is literally in the fire with them!
“O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
– Jesus (Matthew 26:39 NKJV)
As we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, we are all going to face some trial, some pressure, some fiery furnace, some experience that we would never volunteer for. And we are going to pray to be delivered from it—even Jesus asked in the garden before the crucifixion to “let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39 NKJV). Even though it may not go the way we would like, can we say, “As You will?”
Imagine how Shadrach’s, Meshach’s, and Abed-Nego’s faith grew after that experience! They wouldn’t have chosen it, but on the other side of the fiery trial they had a deeper relationship with their God. It is the same for us—there are many situations that we would not have chosen for ourselves, but once we come through the fire, our belief and faith has increased, our relationship with the Lord is deeper, there is a trust in God that we didn’t have before.
And it’s not easy, no matter what the pressure is—apologizing to the office jerk or dealing with cancer—it’s not supposed to be. If it were easy, we could do it in our own strength, and that would not glorify God, would it? It is only in Christ that we can do all things, right?
No matter what we’re facing, Jesus is with us through the “fire.” No matter what happens physically or emotionally, Jesus is preserving us through the fire. Even when it doesn’t seem like it, even when it doesn’t feel like it, He is with us, holding us, strengthening us.
As we pass through the fire, remember one day, we’ll open our eyes and behold our Lord, face to face; know He is with you and “just stand up.”