Most people and animals escaped the flames of a fire that destroyed the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. A black cat named Tux, however, was left behind. Firefighters eventually found the feline, unharmed, inside an overturned stove. The firefighters suggested that an explosion must have blown an opening in the appliance, allowing Tux to jump inside. This safe place allowed him to survive the blaze.
This cat’s ordeal reminds me of a promise God made to Israel. He said, “When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2).
Some circumstances we face threaten us in the same way a wildfire poses danger to everything it encounters. We see trouble on the horizon, but there’s no avoiding it. Unable to outrun or bypass it, our only alternative is to walk through it—to endure it. Jesus revealed that even the most intense flames of difficulty can’t devour a child of God. Our souls are safe with Him (Matthew 10:28).
The God who showed up in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was Jesus, who also walks with us through the fiery times in our lives. He is the Lord, our Savior (Isaiah 43:3). His position as Lord reminds us of His power. Since He’s our Savior, we know that His power is there for us. He’s familiar with us and our trouble. As our Savior, He has given us eternal life.
Pastor and author Tim Keller wrote, “Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.” Because of Jesus, we can be sure that God is with us and for us. By our side in the fire, He thinks of us as precious, honored, and loved (Isaiah 43:4).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Joshua 10:1-15
More:
Read 1 Peter 1:7 and consider the connection between trials we face and our faith in God.
Next:
Why are we tempted to believe that God has abandoned us when we face difficulty? Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus said “I am with you always” (Mathew 28:20). What does this mean to you today?
Gary Shultz on March 4, 2017 at 6:02 am
Hi Jennifer: Remembering some of life’s difficulties, doesn’t bring great joy; however, being here to talk about them shows that God is faithful. Then we hear of what some saints must withstand for there faith, our problems seem insignificant. Your question in the next section well defines the problem for me – “Why are we tempted to believe that God has abandoned us when we face difficulty?” The whole deal God has been trying to show us is, believe. In every successive generation people find excuses not to believe. We will not believe God is bigger than our pressing problems, and God asks “is My arm to short”? As with the disciples it sometimes takes a lot of persuasion to get our heads in the game. The religious wing of the day never looked away from their own self-righteous, and I many times are no better. God has shown His faithfulness, He always, 100% keeps His promises, why is that so hard to believe? Thanks Jennifer
hsnpoor on March 4, 2017 at 6:32 pm
Because so many don’t know the promises (conditional & unconditional) of God well enough to stand on them and most of us won’t or don’t test Him on them. The only time we might is when our backs are to the wall. So, if we want to stay away from that wall, we need to test Him in the good times as well as the bad to know how good he can and will be, so that we come to a point where we truly can walk by faith and not by sight, which is just where He wants us.
sowharvest on March 4, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Amen Gary. Yet the question begs the answer n that we are but flesh. It is no mystery [really] why we find it so hard to believe– FEAR. As troubles comes into our lives we are gripped by fear. NO matter that GOD may just changed a situation/answered a prayer– we never had “this situation” that we are now ruminating about. With that being said, GOD’s faithfulness, grace and mercy are ever more present. Think about it– most often our respond/reaction to a situation is closely tied in with how we [would/could potentially] react. It is the flesh. Yet, GLORY 2 GOD 4 HIS goodness. Amen