The Lord Walks With You
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to “Joni and Friends.”
You know how you can read something in the Bible a hundred times, then, suddenly, you see something you’ve never read before? Well, Ken and I were reading in the book of Daniel last night, and we came across the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You know the story where King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold image and if anyone refused to bow down to it, he had them thrown into a hot furnace. Of course, being God’s people, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wouldn’t bow down to any image, and the king had them bound with ropes and then thrown into the furnace. So, let me pick up the story in the third chapter, the 24th verse; it says: “Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, ‘Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ He said, ‘But, look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’”
Now, there is plenty to learn from that, not the least of which is that although the fire did not harm the three men, the fire did burn off the ropes that bound them. And, of course, no one can miss that fourth person, right?, who appeared alongside Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – an Old Testament appearance of Christ. But the thing I had always missed, the insight that caught me for the very first time last night, was it says they were walking in the midst of the fire. And boy does that speak to me.
Because whatever affliction, whatever fiery trial God might put me through, I can be sure that whatever sin had bound me before the affliction will, by His grace, be burned away in the midst of it. And next, I can always have the assurance that Jesus will be with me in the middle of the trial. Not standing outside the furnace cheering me on and telling me to hang in there. But this lesson in Daniel teaches us that Jesus goes through the fiery ordeal alongside us; in the midst of the suffering He’s right there! But finally, there’s this thing about walking in the midst of the fire.
Because, you see, we tend to think that an awful affliction stops us dead in our tracks. It derails us; it brings to a halt everything and impedes us from going further; that is, until the trial passes, then you can get back to life as normal. Well, that’s not the way it goes for the Christian. A trial does not bring everything to a standstill until we can quickly get past it. A trial is one of the streets through which we move into our destiny. A trial is a pathway on which we walk closer to the finish line. A trial is a road that leads us deeper into the heart of Christ. It’s not something to escape; it’s not a puzzle that needs to get quickly solved so we can get back on track; it’s the main road; it’s the main thing; it’s the main path. We don’t stand still in the midst of a fiery trial; we are to be found walking in the midst of it.
Oh, the comfort of Christ’s revelation is not that it teaches us emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow. It was George Matheson who said:
“‘The road is too rough,’ I said; ‘It is uphill all the way;
No flowers, but thorns instead;
And the skies overhead are grey.’
But One took my hand at the entrance dim,
And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.Then why do we fret and sigh;
Cross-bearers all we go:
But the road ends by-and-by
In the dearest place we know,
And every step in the journey we
May take in the Lord’s own company.”
Remember that today – the Lord walks with you in the midst of your fire. See what we’ve got going on today at joniandfriends.org and share a few comments with me while you’re there. Thanks for listening to Joni and Friends.
