The other day, after work, I did what I usually do—changed out of my work clothes and grabbed a casual t-shirt from my randomly sorted stack.
This time it happened to be a shirt my mom had given me that says:
There’s Another in the Fire
It’s a reference to Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol, even when they were threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace. Their response has always stood out to me:
“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… but even if He does not, we will not serve your gods.”
— Daniel 3:17-18
They were thrown into the furnace.
The fire was so intense that the men who threw them in were killed by the flames. But then the king looked into the furnace and was amazed.
“Didn’t we throw three men into the fire?” He asked those around him.
There were four.
The fourth appeared to be “like a son of the gods.”
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out, Scripture says that their hair wasn’t singed, their clothes weren’t burned, and they didn’t even smell like smoke.
That detail about smoke lingered with me.
During this same week, I had been outside burning some maple from a dead tree we had cut down in our yard. Anyone who has spent even a few minutes around a wood fire knows what happens—you smell like smoke almost immediately.
Walk past the fire a few times and the smell follows you for the rest of the day.
So when I read that they didn’t even smell like smoke, it hit me differently.
It reminded me of something I need to hear from time to time: God cares about the details.
Not just the rescue, but the lingering effects as well.
Not just bringing us through difficult situations, but caring about the things we carry into them and the things we carry out of them.
This has been a season where I, along with people close to me, have been walking through some challenging circumstances. The phrase There’s Another in the Fire felt like a timely reminder that we’re not alone in what we’re facing.
There are situations in my life that I know I couldn’t navigate on my own.
And yet, over and over again, God reminds me of His presence.
The story of Daniel 3 isn’t just about deliverance from the fire. It’s about God’s presence in the middle of it… and after it.
And for me, the detail that there wasn’t even the smell of smoke on them serves as a reminder that God is attentive to even the smallest things.
The God who protected them from the furnace also removed every trace of the furnace from them.
That’s encouraging.
Sometimes we need to remember that God is with us in the big things. Sometimes we need to remember that He cares about the little things too.
This week, I was reminded of both.
–Matt
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