They saw the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them (Daniel 3:27).Refuse to bow in worship?  Into the fire you go.  

The king orders the furnace heated “seven times hotter than usual” and orders his strongest soldiers to bind them tightly and toss them in.  The heat is so intense that this is the last order these poor soldiers ever obey.

Everyone knows how this will end; in fact, once the boys have been tossed in, the story’s over: what god can save them from such flames?

The King sits down to savor his victory.  Not only has he shown these uppity underlings who’s boss, he has also reinforced the obedience of all the rest of his officials.  “Remember those three Jewish kids? Anyone care to join them?”

Suddenly, the King leaps to his feet.  “Didn’t we throw three into the furnace?  Why do I now see four men, walking around in the flames, unbound and unharmed?  And the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

We are never told who the fourth is.  He is mentioned just once, by King Nebuchadnezzar, who describes him as “like a son of the gods” (3:25). Suffice it to say, this fourth is an agent of God, a manifestation of God’s presence and protection.  The story does not focus on identifying this mysterious fourth but rather on the effects of his presence.

Not just protection; freedom.  The King summons the young men from the fire, and out of the furnace they step.  The King and his officials are amazed: not a hair singed, no whiff of smoke on their garments.  The only things that burned were the bonds of the Babylonians.

What if God’s purposes for our tight spaces is to set us free?  To burn away what we thought we so needed, and to find in its place a sudden and wonderfully enlarged range of motion?  To burn away the tight and idolatrous habits and demands of our culture, so that we may walk before God in the land of the living?  

Anything feeling like ropes that bind you: fear, sadness, frustration, anger, impatience, boredom—or anything else come to mind?  How might God be at work in your circumstances to “burn” off these things that bind you?