Do You Still Smell Like Smoke?
Have you ever experienced being around any kind of smoke? Last week, I was having a conversation with a person who was barbecuing for a staff lunch. A short time later I got my burger, but I also smelled just like the barbecue smoke. Needless to say, I smelled like barbecue all day.
No Compromise
In Daniel 3 we read about three teenage boys who defied the king’s decree to bow down and worship an idol. These three young men made the choice to be burned alive rather than compromise their faith in God. Every time I read this story it challenges me to end the compromises in my own life. What is worth more? The temporary pleasures in our idol-filled world, or the presence of God?
Fiery Trials
We find in Daniel 3:21 their punishment for refusing to bow down to the idol. They were bound and thrown into the furnace. In the fire, God met them and brought them through the trial without harm.
The Testimony: I No Longer Smell Like Smoke
In Daniel 3:27 the king and government officials were not only amazed that the three teenage boys were alive, but astonished by the following four observations:
- The fire did not touch them
- Their hair was not burned
- Their clothing was not burned
- They did not smell like smoke
The only thing that was burned in their trial was their bondages! Praise the Lord. God desires us to be free of our bondages when we endure trials.
The main point God wants us to get is that when He meets us in our fiery trials, we aren’t to go around still living in the pain of that trial or smelling like the smoke of that trial. When God shows up on the scene of our fiery trials, He will bring us through without the smell of what He delivered us from.
Have you ever listened to someone bring up a past trial, and you see they are still focusing on the pain and negativity? Maybe some of these comments sound familiar regarding a past trial:
- That person will “never” change.
- Men are evil.
- Growing up no one ever loved me.
- I will “never” trust anyone again.
- My last relationship was a failure so I might as well give up.
- God has given up on me just like everyone else.
I used to have a horrible cigarette smoking habit. I was in the trial of my life to quit. I made the choice to give the habit over to Jesus and asked Him to remove my addiction to nicotine and Jesus set me free. Did I go through a trial with that habit? Yes. But I don’t smell like smoke anymore (literally) because Jesus met me in my trial and set me free! I don’t need to go around complaining about how hard it is to quit or explain why it’s so hard to quit. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us if we are in Christ, we are a new person. All the old is passed away and all things have become new.
The Creator made you and me a new creation and will meet us in every fiery trial we face. Allow the Lord to deal with you in that trial and burn away anything that is holding you back and walk out of that trial in freedom! I declare the word of the Lord over your life that your past is gone and God will make all things new and bring healing and restoration in those areas that smell like smoke.