"Come Out and Come Here."

22 Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
25 “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.”26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel[b] and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
Daniel 3

This was part of my reading this Tuesday morning. It's a bit warmer outside, which is much appreciated since I'm coming down with a cough. As I sat on my couch in my bath robe, with a strong cup of coffee and my Bible in my lap, I found myself confessing to God that I don't know how to confess. My confessions are inadequate (an odd and ironic confession itself) and shallow and barely skim the surface of the depths of my depravity. And then I read this narrative. This story. This wonder.

I often wonder when persecution will begin in America. Will it be in the next year? The next ten? In my life time? I can't imagine it's that far off. But will I be willing to resist? Will I be willing to stand alone? Death frightens me. Not so much the other side, though I have my fears for that as well, but the dying part. Am I willing to be tortured? I find myself praying for mercy in death, for grace as I go Home. But here we find three. Not one. God gave these three a community to stand with. Originally their names were something else (can't remember them...bummer) and all of them meant something about YAH or EL. They were all identified with their God. But they were given these names, the ones we still call them by today (shame...) each identifying them as servants of the different Babylonian gods. As their religious identity was taken from them, they had a community to remind them, maybe even call them, by the name of their God.

Funny how Neb didn't call out the fourth one in the fire, the one "looking" like a Son of God. If I had burned YAHWEH's people I wouldn't want to face Him either.

Friends, there is no other god who can deliver like this. Neb got something right. This he got right. No other god can deliver like this God. When we walk with Him through the fire of persecution, He will bring us through, and the only thing that will burn up are the chords on our hands and feet. We will come out not even smelling like smoke. We will come out refined. Believing Him more. Because He walked through the fire with us.