The Heat of Adversity Increases

Deeper Reflection
Nebuchadnezzar threw Shadrach, Mishael and Abednego into the blazing furnace for adamantly refusing to worship his golden statue. And they “fell into the furnace of blazing fire” (v.23). The Aramaic word for “fell”, nephal, occurs seven times in Daniel 3 – with six times used in “fall down and worship” Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue (Dan 3:5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15). The writer makes the point on discipleship choice very sharply: nephal before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue or nephal into the blazing furnace. Which nephal will I choose?“Filled with wrath”, Nebuchadnezzar commanded the furnace to be heated “seven times” more before throwing Shadrach, Mishael and Abednego into it (v.19). There are times when the heat of our adversity increases. Four waves of devastating troubles fell upon Job one after another with this repeated report transition, “While he was still speaking, another also came and said” (Job 1:16, 17, 18). The fourth wave was very painful: the loss of Job’s beloved children (Job 1:18-19). Job worshipped God in his perplexing pains (Job 1:20-22). But little did Job know that the fifth wave was about to come… (Job 2:1-8). Nevertheless, Job endured, though not without tensions with God (Jas 5:11).Discipleship adversity is like being in a forest fire. And we can be a tree that “when the heat comes, its leaves will be green”, not burned (Jer 17:8). That’s a miracle. That’s God’s power working mightily within us. But we must be “planted by the water” with our “roots by a stream” of the Word of God by which we trust in God (Jer 17:7-8; Psa 1:2-3).