There were once three boys taken captive from their home. Alone in a foreign land full of idolaters and paganism, they held to their faith. Staying faithful to God, they were blessed in His sight. Envious of the prestige and honors these foreigners received in their homeland, their peers schemed to assassinate these young men through their king. The assassins played to the vanity of their king, convincing him all the people of the land should worship an image of himself. Drunk with pride in his own glory, the king had a golden statue made of himself. Over all the land people were to bow to his image whenever the trumpets sounded or be put to death by fire. However, the three captives refused. When the assassins informed the king of their refusal, he was furious. He had been good to these captives! They had been educated and blessed in his kingdom! How dare they not worship him as a god!
The king brought the three before him, asking if what he had heard was true. The schemers secretly laughed among themselves. The three young men told the king they would not bow to his image or any other, for they served the one God. The infuriated king threatened them with a fiery death. They replied, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand.” (Dan 3:17)
The king ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and  Abed-Nego into the fiery furnace which was made seven times hotter than usual. Even the guards who delivered them to the furnace were consumed with fire. However, when king Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he saw something he did not expect. “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.” (Dan 3:25) Stunned, the king called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the furnace, but the fourth man disappeared. All were astonished that “the fire had no power” over the captives.
Most of us have heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego all our lives. Oddly enough, we forget the accounts in Daniel when facing our own fiery furnace. The flames of trials, tribulations, sickness, and heartache threaten our spiritual lives and threaten to consume us entirely. Our enemy is always trying to destroy us, but there is another walking in the fire with us - Jesus. When we realize we are not alone, the fire has no power over us. Jesus promised never to leave or forsake us - even in the fiery furnace. “My God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the burning fiery furnace, and He WILL deliver me!”