The three Hebrew men

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

There were some three Hebrew men that their faith in God quenched the violence of fire. Let us learn some faith lessons from them also because though theirs was a literal fire, people are facing ‘fire’ like situations everyday from which they need to be delivered. You may be in one today even as you are reading this. The story is found in the whole chapter three of the book of Daniel. 

Nebuchadnezzer set up a golden statue of himself and gave commandment that whenever people hear the sound of the trumpet, they were to stop whatever they were doing and bow in the direction of the statue and worship. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused  to obey this command and so they were brought before the king who asked that a fire furnace be built that will be the burial place of offenders. 

Now when they were brought before the king they were given a second chance to recant and bow before the image set up. The thought was that maybe when they see the fiery furnace, whatever confidence they had will fly out of the window, this was their response:

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Dan 3:16-18

This faith exhibited here is a faith not in the power of God but in the person or character of God. Such faith is persuaded about who God is, it is not a demonstration of His power or works at a moment in time that validates Him. This is the kind of faith God is calling you to today. “Have faith in God.”