Finding Jesus in the Furnace
October 10th, 2022 • by Colleen Chao
The day we received my first cancer diagnosis, my husband and I sat down with our (then) six-year-old son to tell him the news. Jeremy shed some tears and hugged me tight. I locked eyes with him and said, “This is hard, isn’t it, bud? It’s not good news. But God is with us, and he turns everything for our good. Everything.”
Jeremy paused, then asked if we could read the story of “the fiery furnace.” My husband opened the Bible to Daniel 3 and read of King Nebuchadnezzar’s intimidating gold statue, threatening edict, and furious rage at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to bow down. You know how the story goes: after the men had been bound and thrown into the fiery inferno—
King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king.
He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”Dan. 3:24–25
My husband finished the story and closed the Bible, and after a pause Jeremy said, “There are four of us in this family.” In his suffering, a six-year-old looked and saw that God was with us in our own fiery furnace. He was given eyes to see Jesus standing with us in the flames.
“While we’re fixated on the furnace and the flames, we can miss the Son of God whose presence with us in the fire is worth far more than any comfort, any dream fulfilled, any promise of health or relief or rescue. ”
God’s Presence is My Good
But we’re not always so quick to see God with us in the fire, are we? Our eyes are more easily fixed on the pain, the loss, the unfairness. We see the impossible circumstances before us, and we despair, worry, fear, or fume. God, why have You allowed this furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual?! Why so much pain? Why the sting of death? While we’re fixated on the furnace and the flames, we can miss the Son of God whose presence with us in the fire is worth far more than any comfort, any dream fulfilled, any promise of health or relief or rescue.
Isaac Ambrose wrote,
Whilst we look on these things, we cannot see the beauty that is in Christ. Oh that all men . . . would presently fall upon the practice of this gospel art of looking unto Jesus! . . . Only Christ is the whole of man’s happiness; the sun to enlighten him, the physician to heal him, the wall of fire to defend him, the friend to comfort him, the pearl to enrich him, the ark to support him, the rock to sustain him under the heaviest pressures . . . Come then! let us look on this Sun of righteousness: we cannot receive harm, but good, by such a look. . . . As Christ is more excellent than all the world, so this sight transcends all other sights; it is the epitome of a Christian’s happiness. (Looking Unto Jesus: A View of the Everlasting Gospel)
Even now, as I face a second and terminal cancer diagnosis—even as things grow harder and harder—my experience of Jesus’ presence keeps getting better and better. Anything I’ve grieved or lost has been extravagantly replaced with more of him. I’m living in the reality that “God’s presence is my good” (Psalm 73:28).
“I’m living in the reality that “God’s presence is my good.””
He Is With Us In the Flames
It's not that I have faithfully kept my eyes on Jesus. I’m just as prone as the next person to stare into the furnace and despair. It’s that his Spirit in me reminds me day by day, sometimes hour by hour, to find him in the flames. And the more I’ve practiced seeing him and perceiving his presence with me, the more I’ve understood the beautiful purpose of suffering.
Like me, you might be tempted to dwell on the apparent unfairness of your situation, the unrelenting physical pain, or the fact there is no end in sight. One of the things I love about Christ is that he doesn’t ask us to pretend we’re not in the furnace. Instead, he joins us there. He knows it’s blazing hot and oppressive and terrifying, and he wants to be with us in it. He says,
“When you pass through the waters,I will be with you,and the rivers will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire,you will not be scorched,and the flame will not burn you.”Isaiah 43:2
It may be difficult to look past the flood and the flame today to get a clear view of Jesus. He understands. He’s tender to our weakness and weariness. He meets us where we are and won’t leave us alone in our pain. Look! Here is Jesus, walking with us in our fire—and his presence will change everything.
* This article is an adapted excerpt from Colleen’s book, In the Hands of a Fiercely Tender God: 31 Days of Hope, Honesty, and Encouragement for the Sufferer.
Colleen Chao has written extensively about finding God’s goodness in the unexpected chapters of her life, including singleness, chronic illness, and terminal cancer. She’s worked as an editor and writer for global organizations, and an English teacher to some of her favorite people on earth—teenagers. When she’s not wrangling words, she enjoys beautiful hikes, side-splitting laughter, and half-read books piled bedside. She makes her home just outside Boise, Idaho with her husband Eddie, their son Jeremy, and Willow the dog. Colleen is the author of In the Hands of a Fiercely Tender God: 31 Days of Hope, Honesty, and Encouragement for the Sufferer.
MORE FROM JOURNEYWOMEN
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen articles are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select writers each week, articles shared on the Journeywomen website do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the authors or any other resources mentioned.
