No Smell of Smoke

I absolutely LOVE FALL!!!!! It is my favorite season. Hoodies, soups and a good fire in the backyard with friends…….my heart is happy. However, after you sit around the fire at night the smell that has permeated my clothes, hair and what feels like every part of me…that I loathe. I hate smelling like the fire when I head to bed. It literally takes over everything that you touch. It is a smell that I love when it is on the fire….but not when it is on me.

I’ve been studying Daniel and I am on the third chapter. A story I remember from my childhood. The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown in the fiery furnace. Quick recap for those that don’t know this story. Three teens are ordered to bow down to a statue that is not their God when they don’t, the King throws them into a smokin’ hot furnace. Like incinerator hot. The men who throw them in are incinerated immediately at the enterance but not the three boys. Instead the people report to the King that their is four man in the fire. When he goes to remove them from the fire the teens exit the fire no longer tied up, with their clothes in tacked, unharmed and there is not even a scent of smoke. Nebechadnezzer the King of Babylon immediate decrees that all will worship the God of Shad, Mesh and Benny as no other God could do as theirs had.

I once got to play the role of Benny, Abendigo, in a play when I was little. Probably my Elementary days. I danced with my friends Shad and Mesh and sang a song inside the fiery furnace. Don’t remember anything about the song, which bugs me as I usually remember lots of scripture through songs from my church days. I just remember having a great time dancing and singing about how great God was. The story though has always stuck out to me. These friends had awe and devotion to God. They were committed. They also had devotion to one another. They worked together and had each other’s backs. I have always been amazed by God’s rescue of them. His detailed deliverance. In the hardest trial of their life after years of hard choices and staying committed to what God had called them too, these three basically said we don’t care if you kill us. We serve a Lord that is above your punishment. He’s bigger than you and whether He chooses to rescue us or we die and see him at the pearly gates…we will not bow down to your idol. (the Nichole paraphrase). He met them in the furnance. His presence gave them miraculous protection. God showed us in this story he doesn’t leave us alone….if you ask, He will show you how He is standing in the fire with you. It says in Daniel 3 that a fourth person was with them. It translates directly- “son of diety” or “son of god”. Scholars translate this as a visible manifestion of God with them. Jesus. Man I love it when we see Jesus in the old testament. It’s another moment I just stand in awe. That is for another day. Today friends, I want our conversation to focus here, with the words at the end of Daniel 3:27:

“They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair on their heads singed, their robes were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them. ” Daniel 3:27 NIV

THERE WAS NO SMELL OF FIRE ON THEM……. if the first three things weren’t miraculous enough, the fourth one would stop all of us in our tracks. It is not something we could have ever experienced or comprehend. Have you ever walked away from a fire not smelling like smoke? I haven’t. It permeates everything that comes close to a fire. I once had a sweatshirt that just sat by my chair near a fire…..wasn’t even up close and it smelled of smoke.

THERE WAS NO SMELL OF FIRE ON THEM.

They were engulfed in a fire within a furnace. IN THE FIRE. Not next to it or by a chair by it. God’s word tells us it singed their restraints, but their robes, skin, and not even a hair on their heads were harmed. Which is in itself is remarkable. But, they exited a fire and even the smell that a fire leaves wasn’t present. HUH? It’s these huh moments in scripture that make me stop and dig deeper. The times where something just doesn’t make sense. Some times it is a culture thing I am not understanding. Sometimes I find extra significance in the greek or hebrew translation, in this case it would have been Aramaic. This time I have found nothing. It’s hard to wrap your mind around this simple miracle.

So Isaiah says, “when we walk through the fire….,” not if…but when. We all know of the fires we have walked through. I personally have been through my fair share. Yet, as I sat with this. I asked God, have I always exited my fire showing the world that the fire didn’t touch me? Glorifying my God, his protection and complete deliverance or do I exit with negative things still attached? My circumstances still having a hold on me? If I am honest and vulnerable with all of you, most of the time I have thought I was completely free but I exited in comparison. I exited with bitterness in my heart. I exited not fully in freedom or feeling completely delivered from my circumstance. Even though I felt better there were things I had chosen to not let go of. Things I had not completely surrendered. I held myself back. My choice might have caused me to smell of smoke. Stick with me.

God wants full redemption for us. FREEDOM from our bondage. Burned off restriants. He wants NO SMELL OF SMOKE. His gift is complete. He leaves no detail lacking. This is a beautiful picture to me of living the abundant life that we are offered in John. Yet we have to take it. God in true gentleman fashion, doesn’t force anything on us. We have to choose to walk in the freedom. Choose to leave the comforts of our past. We have to choose to believe we are worthy of it. We need to choose the gift He is giving. When we choose to accept this full gift not just part of it, we will shine the light of Christ so brightly everyone will want what we have. Not because of how strong we were or how great we handled something…..nope because of the complete deliverance of our God.

“…….you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith– of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1: 6-7

When we choose this freedom, we won’t come out of the fire lacking anything. We come out of the fire with NO SMELL OF SMOKE!!! Exuding joy…radiating the presence of Christ and rejoicing and praising our Lord for His full deliverance.

That song I couldn’t remember from my childhood. It bothered me until God gently whispered….it’s not the words. You remember exactly what I want you to remember. The joyful dancing and praising me in the fire. I want to be an abider of Christ whose first turn is to God. Whose first turn in the fire is to PRAISE and WORSHIP my God. I know Him so well that His presence and His praise are my weapon in battle. In that play when I was little we praised our God in the midst of our fiery furnace. We were delievered and kept praising our God. Full trust. Friends, I want my fire to point people back to praising the one who brings me through. Just like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego I want my struggles to point everyone to praising the God who delivers.

So today I challenge you with these questions:

What is your fire?

Are you holding tight to something in the fire that is preventing our Rescuer from delivering you?

What happens when we choose PRAISE and WORSHIP just because of who our rescuer is?

Do you want to come out with NO SMELL OF SMOKE?