Do you smell like smoke?

 

One of my favourite things to do is to sit around a campfire, the sweet aroma of smoke permeating the air around me, leaving its scent on my clothing and in my hair.

I’m one of those people that will actually look for the smoke to sit in. I want to breathe it in. I want the smell of it to linger on my person long after the fire has died down and the hot coals have cooled and turned to ashes.

Our family have been on many camping adventures and the thought of building a campfire and sitting there staring into the flames or leaning back, gazing into the beauty of the milky way while the smoke trails rise in swirling patterns around me, fills me with great pleasure.

A very, very long time ago, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the book of Daniel, we read of a fire that told an impressive story of God’s Almighty power.

The amazing story of three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who refused to bow to the King’s golden statue, because of their obedience to God, has been told over and over again in Sunday Schools, churches, Youth Groups and the like for centuries.

And one of the most astonishing things about the story, has to do with the smell of smoke.

Let me take you back six years to a time and place where I found myself going through my own fiery trial.

My days were dark, and my nights were even darker. I found myself drowning in a sea of depression and crippling anxiety like I had never experienced before.

For 6 months I fought an internal battle. An unexplained battle with depression, anxiety and panic attacks that literally took my breath away, threatening to take me out completely. They had made themselves at home and nothing I could do seemed to shake it. Everything I tried failed.

And then Jesus came.

Just like in the story of the three Hebrew boys, Jesus stepped in.

As I struggled along, fighting attacks of the devil, fighting within myself, crying out to God, letting my emotions overwhelm me, I began to let the Word of God wash over my soul. I began to read my Bible more. I began to pray like never before. I wrote out countless verses on little note cards and plastered them all over the place. I cried through more worship songs than I can count, I played the piano for our church through tears, eyes closed, the turmoil raging inside of me.

God was trying to bring the impurities in my life to the surface so he could purge them from my life and make me more like him. He wanted to create in me a compassion for others hurting and struggling. He wanted to throw out the critical spirit that I harboured inside and replace it with love.

God was doing a purifying work in my heart. He saw something in me that needed refining. I had to be taken down into the pits of despair in order to rise up in praise, thanking Him for His amazing goodness to me.

In the story of the fiery furnace, we read how that as the boys refused the bow to the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar had made for the people to worship, he was filled with rage and ordered his men to heat the fire seven times hotter than it was already heated.

And as they bound them and cast them into the fire, the men throwing them in were burned up and perished, and yet, the boys began to walk around in the fire and a fourth man appeared alongside them.

Jesus stepped in.

In their time of dire need, Jesus stepped in. He saw the fire, and he saw their hearts.

And we know the rest of the story. Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to come out of the fire and we see a second miracle happen.

Daniel 3:27 KJV - And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

Now, to me, it is absolutely astounding, firstly, that they made it out of the fire alive, but secondly, that there was no smell of smoke on them at all!

They had not only stood by the fire, but they had been IN the fire and yet the smell of smoke did not even touch their clothes or bodies.

Can I tell you, that although you may be going through difficult times right now and the fire is hot and the smoke is swirling, when you make it through to the other side, (when and not if) and Jesus steps in and rescues you, it will be one thing to come out alive but it will be quite another thing to come out without even smelling like what you went through.

The fire that everyone thinks will destroy you, and tear down your belief and trust in God, can be the thing that makes your faith grow even stronger.

The trials you go through can be the very instrument God uses to change you from the inside out.

Don’t you think that those Hebrew boys went into that fire one way, but came out another? They came out changed. Their testimony grew to a whole new level. Their faith levelled up!

Those looking on marvelled at the strength of their faith and their confidence in God.

Even grand King Nebuchadnezzar himself was so affected that he commanded his people to become worshippers of this God that these boys claimed as their own.

Daniel 3:29 KJV - Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

When I struggled through my dark days, the fire seemingly hotter than I could bear, instead of destroying my faith, like the Devil wanted it to, it solidified it. It strengthened it. It grew it.

My time of not being okay, changed my heart and set me on a path of soul searching and digging into the Word of God regularly, longing to hear from him.  

Somebody, somewhere, is watching you go through your fire. And when they see you come out, not just alive, but not even smelling like what you just went through, not just alive but more alive than you’ve ever been in your life, they are going to want what you have, and they are going to want to know how to get it.

When Jesus sets you free from what enslaves you or grips your soul, somebody loses. That somebody is the Devil.

The enemy does not want you to be free. He knows that you have the potential to do great things for God and his kingdom when you are freed from what holds you down.

If you let him transform your life and you no longer identify by your pain, the enemy loses.

You have to be bold enough to say, “Jesus came into my story, he redeemed me, he pulled me from the fire, and I’m going to keep sharing it because I want other people to be free.”

Let your testimony of God’s goodness be a shining light to all those you come in contact with. Don’t let even the hint of the smell of smoke linger on you.

Come out alive. Come out stronger. Come out with an unshakeable faith. Come out with a powerful confidence in God that can’t be moved. Come out CHANGED!

I am not the same person I was six years ago. I now get excited about my past victories and long to share them with others every chance I get.

You never know what an encouragement you might be to someone in a dark place, longing to know if there is hope and life after pain.

Let me tell you, from someone who has been there and come through and up into the light, there is life after pain and hurt and depression and anxiety.

God has given me new breath in my lungs, a new song in my heart, new promises to hold to, and a thankful spirit that wants to shout his praises for all to hear.

Don’t smell like the smoke of the fires you’ve been through!

Psalm 145:2 KJV - Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.