They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed. (Dan. 3:27)
I WAS CONFUSED when a friend insisted on providing my family a sumptuous holiday feast, claiming God had impressed upon her to do so. We live on a tight budget, but we’re not destitute. Her generosity seemed misdirected.
Then another friend contacted me on behalf of a struggling local family who had recently lost everything in an area-wide flood. I knew it was no coincidence. Having just been relieved of a week’s worth of grocery shopping, we gladly diverted the funds to the flood victims instead.
When I told my friend about how her holiday dinner had actually helped another family, she just smiled and said, “That’s how you know it’s a God thing.”
Perhaps that’s what Nebuchadnezzar’s satraps and governors were thinking as they crowded around the three Hebrews who just escaped certain death. It would have been spectacle enough had they crawled out of the furnace on their hands and knees, severely burned but still clinging to life. That they emerged wholly unscathed was (and is still) beyond comprehension. It has to be a God thing.
I’m thankful for God’s attention-getting demonstrations. They help me appreciate seemingly mundane comforts—a steady job, healthy children, a warm bed—as emblems of His providence rather than fruits of my own labor. From this reoriented perspective of humble adoration, I can rightly discern each blessing for what it really is: a God thing.
Journal about a time when God did something unmistakably gracious
Johnathan Kana lives with his wife and two children in rural central Texas. When he’s not writing, he enjoys playing piano and composing music.
© 2017 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
