I recently re-read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were just going about pleasantly living their lives and worshiping God, when they undeservingly were the victims of King Nebuchadnezzar’s selfishness and rage. They were thrown into a fiery furnace, but to everyone’s surprise, weren’t swallowed by the flames. They trusted in God and walked out of the furnace perfectly intact – “the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no sign of fire on them.” (Daniel 3:27)
At first it may not seem like we could have a lot in common with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Chances are, we aren’t going to get thrown into a fiery furnace anytime soon, but we will certainly come across our own King Nebuchadnezzar and fires in our lives. Maybe people we’ve trusted have hurt us badly, or maybe we’ve been disappointed when something didn’t go our way.
Whatever it may be, we will experience hurt at some point in our lives. It’s an unavoidable part of being a person, of truly living as a Christian. Whatever our hurt may be, we can’t let it keep us from being who we really are and who God wants us to be. It can be really tempting to dwell on the negative things that have happened to us, to wallow in hurt and disappointment. However, we can’t let the hurt hold us back. I’ve been there and done that, and it really doesn’t work. It almost hurts you more in the long run because it makes it that much harder to move on with your life. It is distracting from the purpose God has for us.
That’s why it is so important to ask God to help us deal with our negative emotions once and for all, rather than covering them up. A key part of dealing with the negative emotions is forgiving those who are the source of them. Let yourself be angry or disappointed for a little, but eventually turn to God and ask for His help moving on with your life. A great place to start is with scripture. The Bible has a lot to say about the fiery furnaces of life we may walk through.