Reflection 04 - The Fiery Furnace

On Sunday we were looking at one of my favourite stories in the Bible – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace, from Daniel 3.

This is a story from very far away – in terms of distance, in terms of culture, in terms of time. It is a great story. But when we read the Bible - hopefully we have an appreciation that it is more than just a great story – it is supposed to ‘do something’. That’s what we mean when we talk about it being God’s word, a living word and being useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. But the Bible was not written with us in mind. The authors were not thinking about Christians in the UK in 2021 when they put pen to paper (or stick to clay tablet or quill to papyrus).

And when we read these stories from the Old Testament we need to look beyond ‘good’ or ‘bad’ examples to copy or avoid. Just because Daniel and his three friends didn’t eat meat or drink wine doesn’t mean that we should follow their example. (Of course, there are good reasons why we might want to avoid doing both those things – but just because Daniel did, isn’t one of them.)

From a very young age we have a strong sense of what is fair and what is not. And many people carry this sense over into their understanding of the way in which the world works. It is certainly the way that churches that teach the prosperity gospel think. The thinking goes, ‘if I do the right thing then God will bless me’ – and by ‘bless me’ they mean, ‘everything will go well in my life’.

One of the problems of this way of thinking is that it is totally unbiblical!

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been faithful to God and, along with Daniel, they had been promoted. All well and good so far. But their rapid promotion, their integrity, their honesty, their work ethic, their obedience to God, their unwillingness to fit in and go along with the crowd – these were all things that marked them out as different, and therefore a threat to their work colleagues. And when they had opportunity, these disgruntled work colleagues were only too happy to stab Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the back.

**Spoiler alert** We’ll see this again in chapter 6. **Spoiler alert over**

There are many examples in the Bible where a person’s obedience and allegiance to God got them into trouble. If they’d been happy to go along with the crowd then their life would have been a lot easier.

 

Many of us will spend about a third of our time this week at work. And we need to be aware that living as followers of Jesus may make that a very hostile environment for us. It might be that our commitment to integrity means that we can’t go along with the prevailing office culture. It might be that calling out racist language puts noses out of joint. It might be that our desire to do the very best job we can creates jealousy. It might be that our compassion for people rather than numbers challenges ethos and policy.

So if you’re having a really tough time at work this week remember:

•  you’re in good company,
• your difficulties may well be a consequence of living out your faith, and this shouldn’t be a surprise,
• God has promised to be with you in the fire,
• to let people at church know so that we can support and encourage and pray for you – your struggles at work are as much a part of God’s mission as those face by missionaries in Chad.

And if you’re not having a really tough time at work then thank God for this blessing and pray for those who are.