Episode Transcript  

One

The Fiery Furnace

Everybody loves the story of the three men in the fiery furnace from the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, makes a huge golden statue, and then commands that everyone in his kingdom worship it. And three faithful Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refuse. So the King has them thrown into the fiery furnace, a furnace so hot that even the men who throw the captives into the furnace die from the heat exposure. But instead of being roasted, the three men are unaffected by the fire, and they stand in the furnace singing praises to God. 

It’s a very vivid episode of God’s ability to deliver his faithful ones. But one of the interesting things about the story is this: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t sure God would deliver them.

Two

If He will… if He will not.

When King Nebuchadnezzar is told about the three men who will not follow his idolatrous order, he flies into a rage and summons Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gives them one last chance to adore the idol before being thrown into the white-hot furnace. Now listen to how the three men respond to the furious king, “There is no need for us to answer you in this matter. If our God, whom we serve, will save us from the white hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us. But even if He will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

That, right there, is what abandonment to divine providence means. God is able to do anything, but I don’t know what He’s going to do. But whatever it is, whether it means I suffer or I get a pass, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to follow Him.

Is that our attitude? And if not, how can we make it our attitude? How can we be like the three faithful men and entrust ourselves to God when we don’t even know whether He’ll save us?

Three

Saved Spiritually, even if Not Physically

If we entrust ourselves to God, we can be certain He will save us. What we cannot know, and must leave to His Providence, is whether He saves us by taking away the trial or by carrying us through it. Most of the time, He does not remove the trial, because our holiness requires purification and strengthening which involves suffering, and our union with Christ means sharing in His redemptive Cross. 

In the end, every one of us must pass through the greatest trial, death, because it is the doorway into eternal glory. In the words of St. Augustine, “Fear not: do what he commands you, and if he does not deliver you in bodily form, he will deliver you spiritually…” 

Four

Deliverance from the Fires of Passion

What makes life unbearable is not outside trials but the fire of our own disordered passions, lust, resentment, envy, and ambition, that burn and torment us. Scripture gives us a picture of deliverance. When the three Israelites were thrown into the fiery furnace, an angel of the Lord turned the flames into a cool breeze, so the fire could not harm them. Nebuchadnezzar looked in and saw not three, but four men walking unharmed, and the fourth “looked like a son of God.”

This is what Christ does for us. He enters the furnace of our human condition. He walks with us in the fire, and by His power, He delivers us, not always from trials outside, but from the flames within: sin, vice, and passion. That is true deliverance, and it is promised to all who trust in Him.

Five

Praising God

Do you realize how happy you’ll be when you are freed from all your vices, when all your addictions are gone, when the flames of selfishness can’t touch you anymore, when you’re free to love like God? The men in the furnace lifted their voices in a hymn of praise to God that is so powerful the Church requires every member of the clergy to pray it every Sunday morning.

The Lord is blessed, over and over, for all His majestic goodness. All inanimate things, the night, the day, the lightning, the clouds, the earth, the waters, the ice, the Sun, and the stars, they’re all told to bless the Lord. All living things, plants and birds, and beasts, they’re all told to bless the Lord. And the rational orders too, men on earth and angels in heaven, they’re all told to bless the Lord.

This is Heaven, all of us who have been freed by God for happiness, by and with Christ, singing praise to God in every way we can think of. This is the reward for trust in divine providence. So let’s make it our rule of life, “God is able to do anything, but I don’t know what He’s going to do. But whatever it is, whether it means I suffer or I get a pass, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to bless Him.”

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