#45 Time in the furnace(27may2005)

'And these three men......fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace'

Daniel 3:23



Over the years, the world have witnessed many false pretenders walking through flames, eating in the flames or running over hot coals but never by faith entering into a furnace that was so hot that those standing even near it were burned to death.



'....and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego....'

Daniel 3:22



Yet, what gave these three faithful believers in Daniel's time, the courage to defy the most powerful man on earth then, the great King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon(ie ancient Iraq) and hold on to their faithfulness to God, at the risks of certain death in the hot furnace.



'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God'

Daniel 3:25



'Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God......who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, .....that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God'

Daniel 3:28



God indeed answers the prayers of the faithful. For the faithful learned to ask in His will and not our will.



'Yet not as I will, but as You will'

Mathew 26:39



Yet, often, when God starts to respond to our earnest prayers, we more often than not, find it a very trying and daunting experience either because

- He doesn't seem to be doing it the way we had thought He would or

- the process of achieving that desired prayer is starting to encroach into our comfort zone



Psalm 139:23-24 reminds us that God will not just listen to the utterings of our mouths, but to the murmurs of our heart and soul



'Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my thoughts;

And see if there be any wicked way in me;

And lead me in the way everlasting'

Psalm 139:23-24



God asked us

- to always look at our inner selves first,

- to look to Him to remove the barnacles of our sins encrusted upon our souls

- and the Lord will first cleanse us as He also move on fulfilling our Spirit-led prayers.



One of my prayers has been for the family to move closer to the Lord and grow truly to be a God-fearing family and be an example of God's grace.



God indeed has started to respond to my heartfelt desires but honestly, it can get unbearably painful as the Lord works in ways He knows best.



The Lord places us in the fiery furnace, to melt us, to cleanse us of our impurities and to mould us from our imperfections



'The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold;

But the Lord trieth the hearts'

Proverbs 17:3



'I would have lost heart, unless I had believed, that I would see the goodness fo the Lord in the land of the living'

Psalm 27:13



God never promises to take us away from the storms in our lives, for strong winds and rains are what helped to sculpt many a beautiful rock formation eg the famous ten apostles rock formation off Melbourne's Great Ocean coast)



God is refining us, He will do it lovingly, but often, we resist because it is 'painful.' Of course it is painful, 'dumbo', as my son will always say, because you are not letting go.



Having just emerged from another storm or more like refinement in the burner, one do know that

- God will be very clear in His guidance. God will speak to us from His Word, from people or from the peace of heart or in many other ways.

Often, we do not hear or 'see' God because the 'GPS' system in our hearts have already been pre-set and we want God to follow us, and not we Him.



- God knows our limits and He is faithful even when we are not.

Yesterday morning, there was a heavy rainstorm at 4am, a great pictorial representations of the latest storm in our lives last nite.

Yet at 5.45am, the storm abated into a steady drizzle.



Why can't God just give us clear skies immediately, for my daughter had a walkathon in her school the same morning at 7am, up Mt Faber, not Mt Sinai.



God knows our imperfections. Often, while He heals, He also let time heal us and it is at His timing, not ours.



'Surely Your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay;

For shall the work say of Him that made it, He made me not?..'

Isaiah 29:16



The sky did clear at 9am and everyone had a good time walking up Mt Faber



'I have heard your prayer....' Surely I will heal you.

On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord'

2 Kings 20:5



God Blesses



Eng Hieang