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Pain and Fire

Posted by will | Filed under Christianity, Elizabeth, Thoughts

Over the past two months God has been teaching me some amazing, but hard lessons. Most of the time I am thick headed and it takes a while for them to sink in. For example, hearing a story when I was in Kenya.

Chuck told us about how when he was at the Segera Mission in April on a medical trip one of the things that the doctors had to do was scrape the feet of a young girl whose feet had been infected by the ground dwelling parasites. When I heard the story I thought ‘man in America when a parent takes their kid to the doctor they know that their kid may experience some temporary pain, but it is for the long term benefit of the kid, but in Kenya many of these parents had never been to a doctor themselves and so not only do you have to explain to the kid that the doctor has to sometimes hurt them in order to heal them, but you have to explain that to the parents as well.’ Up until last night that was all that story seemed like to me, just a cultural difference and barrier that we must overcome when doing ministry in a third world country. While talking with one of the godliest couples that I know, Jake and Suzanne it hit me that this was the same thing I was experiencing, but not understanding.

Often when we are experiencing pain, God must bring us through more pain in order to refine us and heal us of what was wrong with us. When He does this we have two options just like this young Kenyan girl did- 1. we can kick and scream and fight back or we can 2. hold still and allow His hands and His grace to remove the thing that is eating us up and destroying us. If we choose Option 1, this is a dangerous option just like it would have been for the girl, she could have kicked the scalpel and hurt herself even worse, leaving a large gaping wound on the bottom of her foot allowing the parasites even easier access to attack her body. If we try to kick God away and allow Satan to drive a wedge between us and Him when we are already in pain all it will do is allow Satan even easier access to attack us in the future. In turn we must allow God’s mercy to completely consume us and rest in His presence until He frees us of whatever pain we are in. Just like for the little girl it is often not the shortest road to recovery, but it is the best way to be healed.

When talking to Jake and Suzanne, Suzanne brought up the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how God chose them and allowed them to be thrown into the fire. When King Nebuchadnezzar said bow to his idol, they had a choice, they could get down and bow to something that wasn’t their god or they could stand and say what they said:

“¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

In a nutshell they were saying ‘no matter what kind of pain you can inflict on us we will not forsake our God, because He will not forsake us.’ Think about that!!! Somebody is going to throw you into the fire and ALL you have to do to not be thrown into the fire is bow down! Thousands of years later and Satan’s playbook is still the same- he tries to fool us into thinking that he can really hurt us beyond what God can heal us from. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that this was one of Satan’s lies and more importantly they had no doubt in the sovereignty of their Father.

If you know the story you know what happens next- King Nebuchadnezzar orders them to be thrown into the fire. This is when his world starts to get rocked.

“²⁴ 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.” ²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s hope in The Lord resulted in Jesus’ visible physical presence in their lives. I know after everything that Kelly and I have been through over the past two months that the Holy Spirit has definitely been present in our lives. I can testify to this not only because of feeling His presence, but I know without Him we would not have been able to make it through the past two months and have the hope that we have.

Pain often has a “stinch” that comes with it. When you are experiencing that pain all you can smell when you breath is that stinch that just permeates your whole life. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the fire I am sure they could smell the fire that was all around them, but when God delivered them from the fire

“^27bThey saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.”

God removed all outward signs of the ordeal that they had experienced. For the rest of their lives I am sure that they could vividly remember the events of that day, but they no longer had to smell the stinch of what they had experienced.

As a result of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s obedience, others’ lives like King Nebuchadnezzar were transformed,

²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”

For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego their lives were changed as well, “ ³⁰ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

When we experience pain in our lives we must not forsake God, because not only will He not forsake us, He will use that pain to change others as well as refine us and bless us by drawing us closer to Him. In order for him to do that we must trust and hope of the glory of God.

“^2bwe rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Permalink | July 21st, 2009