Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Daniel 3:24-25, NKJV
Have you ever been through a time in your life where you felt like you were drowning and every time you were finally able to finally come up for air, something or someone else plunged you back under the water? Times like these leave us feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, too weak to withstand the continuous assault from the enemy.
For more than 15 years, I have dealt with these feelings. Woven throughout the trials were good times. During those times, I would begin to feel peace and optimism, believing that I had finally turned a corner. I would become hopeful that “now” things were finally good again. But all too quickly something else would come out of nowhere, plunging me back under the water of despair.
I would love to say that my faith has never wavered, but I cannot do that. And, I sincerely believe that any Christian who makes that claim is either not being honest or has not been a committed Christian long enough to face the sifting that even men like Peter, John the Baptist, Job, and Abraham endured.
While I have never doubted the existence of God or the reliability of our Bible, there have been many times that I have questioned God’s love and concern for me. In great distress, I have wept and cried out to God asking Him how He can say He loves me while allowing me to go through the things I’ve been through. And when I have had to watch my children suffer, the pain was even deeper. God has often told me that they are His children too and that He loves them even more than I do and I believe that with all of my heart. But, when I see them attacked by the enemy and by people who are supposed to love them and I am helpless to do anything to fix it, I wonder where He is.
The past 2 years have been by far the most difficult for me. I have experienced some of the most heart-shattering pain I have ever been through and it has come from people I loved. There have been so many days that all I could do was lay on the floor in my bedroom and cry.
One day, I was crying and asking those questions – “Where were You, God?” “How could You let that happen?” “Why do You allow this pain?” “How can people be so cruel?” That day, God imparted something to me that has stayed with me and given me peace that I had not previously been able to find. When I was asking these questions, when I was reliving many painful memories, God spoke as clearly to me as if He were speaking audibly. He said, “I was there with You. When all of those things happened, I was there with You. I was holding you and weeping with you.”
I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember and of course I “knew” that God is always with us. After all, He is omnipresent. God is everywhere, He sees everything, He knows everything. But, that spiritual knowledge became heart knowledge that day and I could picture Jesus sitting with me on those days that my heart was breaking and I knew that the things that hurt me, the things that hurt my babies, also hurt Him deeply. I knew that He cared about them and that, as David wrote in Psalm 56:8, He kept the tears that streamed from my face on those terrible days in a bottle. And, I knew that one day, in His time, He would make things right.
I suddenly understood what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found out when the pre-incarnate Son of God walked with them in the midst of the fire, loosing their chains and preventing them from being burned. While we may not understand why God allows tragedy and heartbreak to come into our lives, we can be assured that we are His beloved children and that He never allows us to walk through the fire alone.
While the enemy is behind every bad thing that happens in this world, more often than not, they result from the free will that God gave humanity. The unjust actions of a wicked king led Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into an impossible situation, but God came through for them. While He did not prevent Nebuchadnezzar from throwing them into that furnace, He did protect them from the flames and He walked through the fire with them. When they came out, they didn’t even smell of smoke. And, I have no doubt that their faith and trust in their Heavenly Father were made stronger that day.
Whatever you may be facing today, know that there are others who have been there. We have asked the same questions that you have. Like you, we have been tempted to give up, to give in, to let the enemy win because it’s just too hard, But, please know that there is hope, that things will turn around, and that you will make it if you stay close to Jesus.
God promises to use every difficult thing we face to draw us closer to Himself, to strengthen our faith, and to bring us to a place where we can be used as vessels through which the love and hope of Jesus can be poured into the lives of those around us. Don’t give up and you will be amazed by what He does through your life.
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