Three People Who Have Never Been In My Kitchen

On the show Cheers, Cliff Claven, resident know-it-all, goes on Jeopardy and is stumped by the clue, “Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, and Lucille LeSueur.”  Instead of the correct answer, “what were the real names of Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and Joan Crawford”, Cliff answers, “Who are three people who’ve never been in my kitchen”.

I think of that answer when I hear the names Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

The old saying goes, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”, and while these three have never been in MY kitchen, they have known “the heat.”  You see they were the guys who stood up to King Nebuhadnezar and refused to worship the golden image he had made of himself.

In the story told in Daniel 3, old Neb gets quite angry when he’s told that the three men he’s put in charge of Babylon are unwilling to worship the golden image he has erected of himself.  He summons the men and tells them they must obey and worship his statue or else they will be thrown into a blazing furnace.

The response given by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is this:

“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Well, that answer enraged the King, and he commanded that the men be thrown into the furnace that was so hot it immediately killed some of the guards standing near.  However, when Nebuchadnezzar looked to the furnace to make sure they’d been incinerated, he lept to his feet in amazement because rather than three men in the furnace, there were four, “and one looked like a son of the gods”.

The furnace was opened and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out.  It’s an incredible story with an awesome ending.

Christian rock band, Mercy Me, sings a song titled Even If.  The band leader wrote it after a heart breaking day dealing with the chronic illness of his child.

A true testimony of faith is recognizing that while God CAN do all things, even if He does not give us the desires of our hearts, He is still worthy of praise because He has already given us the greatest gift of all – a restored relationship with Him, and a ransom for our souls.

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