Have you ever heard people talk about being in the “fiery furnace” when they are going through some terrible trial? Do you know what they are referring to? It’s an allusion to the ordeal of the three Hebrew children as told in the book of Daniel.

These three were thrown into a furnace for refusing to worship the king as a god. The fire was so hot, “the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.”(Daniel 3:22) Wow – that’s hot!

Once I was going through a fiery trial and asked for prayer from a lady in a church I was visiting. I told her I was in the fiery furnace and her comment was “Praise God” with a big smile on her face. I looked back at her chagrined, sorry I had asked.

She took hold of my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. She said; “Honey, if you’re in the fiery furnace you’re about to be free. The only things that burned while those boys were in there were the ties that bound them.” Then she prayed a beautiful prayer for me and I went home to re-read the story.

Yep, she was right! They went into the furnace bound but then the king saw them “loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm.” (Verse 25) In the end, that is exactly how my own trial turned out too. The fire burned away something that was binding me.

If God places you in a fire, he has a plan to free you of something. “Praise God!” You may call it “fiery” furnace now but later you will call it “freedom” furnace.