The other day I was driving home from the store and I flicked through the stations.

I love Christmas music. I love music that is holly jolly and I love music that sings praises to our Savior.

Also me ….. I don’t want to hear Christmas music until December 1st. Please.

I actually refuse to listen to any holiday-cheer music until after Thanksgiving and I’m not kidding. We all have our quarks. I guess that’s just one of mine. I normally listen to K-Love but as soon as my daughter gets into the car she insists on House FM. I can’t tell a difference between the two stations but her dad and her absolutely agree that there’s a difference. It’s lost on me.

Sometimes I’ll listen to different stations and more often than not my dial finds its way back to the country stations which is what I grew up listening to as a child and have listened to all my life. Now I’m selective, I can’t listen to just any country music because much of it now days isn’t country, but I’ll listen to a lot of it. As I settled on KXY our good ole’ familiar Okie came on the radio, it was Garth Brooks, it was his song, “Standing outside the fire“. I like that song and I like the video that goes with it as well. I listened to the words as they fell out over my speakers and just thought about them a little bit longer than I ever had before. The lyrics are good but the words that kept my attention were, “Life is not tried, it is merely survived, standing outside the fire.”

I started to think about some guys that were tried and actually stood inside the fire.

When I got home I sat down and opened up my Bible to the book of Daniel, chapter 3 and began to read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; the three guys in the fire. You’ve probably heard their story or at least part of it.

Basically what happened is these three men were some decent dudes alright. They were respected in Babylon and the king had even appointed them as high appointed Babylonian officials. Then King Nebuchadnezzer commands everyone to bow down to this golden statue but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down. I mean, refuse. They’re like, “That’s gonna be a hard pass for me, dawg!” They’re not going to bow down and worship this idol. It’s not happening. So when they’re brought into the kings presence where they boldly inform him that their God is going to be with them, and again they didn’t back down, the king ordered that the three men be thrown into the fiery furnace, heated 7x hotter than it normally would’ve been, and they were left to die. It was killing folks just standing near it.  Except King Nebuchadnezzer looks over at the fire and sees FOUR men walking inside the furnace unharmed. The Son of God shows up! BOOM! Does that blow your mind? It did the kings! He had to admit that God, the One true God, was real. Indeed. He had the men brought from the furnace, gave them a promotion to a higher office, and then decrees that the God of Israel IS indeed GOD and that’s who is going to be worshiped. He said that God is the only true God and decreed that anyone who spoke against “their” God would be torn from limb to limb.

Um. It’s getting hot in hur’.

When we’re in the fire (and my Pastor once said that fire refines so it doesn’t sound so scary to me anymore) we know that Jesus is close to us. He’s there with us, we’re not “taking the heat” alone, He’s bearing that burden with us. How precious is that? To walk closely with the Lord. Wow. When we’re in the fire we’re not bound in the chains because Jesus breaks chains. I don’t know how the men were free to walk around inside that fire, but I know that they were free, no longer bound up…. no longer tied up but were freely walking with Jesus. No matter what we go through, no matter how hot that fires gets, no harm can come to us if we’ve asked Jesus to be the Lord of our lives because our eternal life with Him can’t be taken from us. Can you imagine these Babylonian guards just dropping dead from the mere heat of the furnace, which had been turned up seven times hotter than normal, but when the three men were brought out of the furnace they weren’t burned at all. Not only were they not burned; they didn’t even smell of smoke!!!!!

Seriously. Could you imagine having that kind of faith? Do you have that faith? These men knew that God would be with them; do you have that faith? Do you have a relationship with Him today?

Would you make a bold statement like that for your faith today? If it meant that you were going to die regardless? Because that happens all over. Would you even make a bold enough statement about your faith today, about God, that you would tell somebody about Jesus!? Have you told anyone about Jesus today? These men didn’t back down from that fire, from the literal fire, when they were being forced into a corner.

This world is full of so much hurting, all kinds of hurting, and hearts are broken everyday.

This year I’ve watched friends bury their young children from tragedies, in fact one just weeks ago. I’ve seen many people struggle financially. I’ve witnessed the heartache that comes when two people divorce and I’ve watched the grief stricken face of a widow crying tears after losing her husband after decades of marriage. I’ve watched friends say good-bye to their loved ones after battles with cancer and Alzheimer’s. People die. Financial hardship happens all too often. Families are messy. Children get sick. Marriages fall apart. You are going to have trouble in your life. You will go through some trials. God is still good.

He’s good.

God knew that your baby would be born sleeping; even though He didn’t wake her up, He’s still good. He still has plans for your life! Your daughter is a part of His plan, too!

God knew that your union was going to end in divorce after 40 years of marriage; even though He didn’t restore that relationship, He’s still good. He still has plans for you both!

God knew that your daddy was going to lose a battle he was fighting to an illness waging war on his tired body; even though He didn’t heal him, He’s still good.

God knew you would lose your job; even though He hasn’t brought you employment yet, He’s good. He has a plan and His plan is good!

Will you serve God even if He doesn’t? Hey may, He may not.

I don’t know what it is for you, but will you serve Him if He doesn’t give that to you? Will you serve Him if He doesn’t answer that prayer? Will you love Him still? Will you serve Him? Even if God doesn’t do what you want or as you think He will or think He should, will you serve Him no matter what?  Because …. “life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire.”

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39

“O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.”

Jeremiah 17:13

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.“

Jeremiah 29:11