Not Even the Smell of Smoke
“Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.”Daniel 3:19 (KJV)
Nebuchadnezzar answered faith with fury. He was “full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.”
Seven times hotter. When people are against you, they often turn up the heat. More pressure, more anger, more threat. It can feel like the harder you hold on, the hotter it gets.
But look at how the story ends. The officials crowded around the three men and saw that the fire “had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” Not a hair. Not even the smell.
God brought them through without a trace of the fire on them. Some of us come through a trial and carry it for years: bitterness, fear, the smell of smoke on everything. Ask God not only to bring you through, but to bring you out clean.
Count it yourself
The furnace was heated 7 times hotter (Daniel 3:19), and 0 hairs of their head were singed (3:27).
Is there a past fire you came through but still carry the smell of?
Lord, you walked with them in the fire and brought them out clean. Take the smell of smoke off me too. Amen.