Nobody wants to be thrown in the furnace

Everybody has trouble but nobody seems to want it. The trouble is not the trouble itself, but how we handle it. One young man loses his girlfriend and tries to commit suicide. Another young man loses his girlfriend, writes a song about it, and makes a million dollars. The difference is in the way you treat the problems that come to you.

You remember the story of the three Hebrew boys taken captive to Babylon and were placed in school to prepare them for government service. They refused to eat the meat or drink the wine provided for them. God blessed them and they were outstanding students.

They refused to bow before an idol made with hands and were thrown into a fiery furnace. Trouble doesn’t get much worse than that. Troubles come to all of us, but few of us will face trouble like the Hebrew boys. In the midst of their trouble God delivered them.

God was in control of their lives. They had submitted to God’s will and believed that God could deliver them if he chose. But even if he did not they would continue to trust him.

If God could deliver these young men from a fiery furnace, it should seem evident he can deliver us from whatever trouble we find ourselves in. God is still in control. Satan may try to disrupt, but God is still in control. The sooner we understand that God has the final authority, the better off we will be. While God is not the source of our troubles, he can use those troubles and overrule them to produce good results in our lives.

God did not deliver the three Hebrews from the fire; he chose to deliver them in the fire. He wanted to show his power to the people who watched this event. We want to tell God how to solve our problems. We want him to deliver us before the problems come. More often than not, God will deliver us in our troubles, not from our troubles.

Troubles are no fun, but when they come we can know that God is with us.