THE FOURTH MAN (My God is Able!)

The Fourth Man - (My God is Able)
By Carla Y. Nix

He answered and said, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." ~Daniel 3:25 (ESV)

Looking at me today, you would never know that I was once a scrawny little girl who was shy and often afraid of others. I was the girl that was teased and bullied in school because I was so timid and meek and the other kids knew that they could push me around. I was once very skinny (“skin and bones” was once a description for me), I always had these large “buck” eyes, and at one point I even had “buck” teeth. I was also the kid who was always picked last for teams at school. The team captains hoped and prayed that I did not end up on their team.

All of this was very painful for me. I very seldom talked about the torture I endured and the heaviness of my heart. I just stayed to myself as best I could and wondered if I would ever be “normal” and fit in.

Well, that never happened! LOL! I am far from “normal” and to this day, I still don’t fit in with most! But, the difference today is that I really don’t care. For I have learned that my “strangeness” is truly my uniqueness that God specifically endowed me with.

I don’t look like that awkward and terrified little girl anymore either. I haven’t been skinny or scrawny (or anywhere near it) in a zillion years, and I have come to absolutely love my big eyes and I think I have pretty decent smile now. Most of all is that my confidence and self-esteem has grown all by the grace of God.
Tonight’s blog is really about confidence, however, not about confidence in myself. When I was that scrawny little girl, there is one thing that often saved me and even kept me sane. That was the fact that each time those kids would tease me, mess with me, and even threaten me (someone always wanted to fight it seems), there was one thing I only had to think or say. That was, “I’m gonna call my big brother Michael!” See, Michael was nobody’s “scaredy cat”. Michael was a big boy and he was bold and could be very mean and intimidating when he had to. I remember in our neighborhood, there was a family of children whom we called “the red-headed children” (well, they all had red hair!). They were some “bad” kids and they did terrible things to not only us, but the whole block. I guess they were the “BeBe Kids” of the late 1960’s.

But, my weapon was to put them on alert that Michael would be informed if they messed with me. I knew that he would take care of them. He would watch out for his little sister.

I was reminded of this because of recent events in my life, but also because of some study I’m doing for a purpose that I don’t even know why (God is preparing me for something that He hasn’t revealed to me yet).

My study has me reading in Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a decree that all of the people of kingdom would bow down and worship his idol gods anytime that they heard the music play. Of course, all at his whim. The “three Hebrew boys”, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to do so. They stood their ground. They were not afraid, not even of the punishment that was ordered for anyone who would not obey the king. The punishment was automatic death! They would be thrown in to a fiery furnace. However, the king was so outraged with their defiance, he ordered that they not only be thrown in to the fire, but that the temperature would be raised seven times higher than normal. Even after this threat, the young men still would not denounce their God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ~Daniel 3:16 – 17

Bingo! Focus on these words…. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

You see, back when I was being tortured by the other kids, I knew that my big brother was ABLE to save me! Because I knew that HE was able, I was not afraid of what they MIGHT do to me.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew what faced them. POSSIBLE death in the fiery furnace. But even moreso, they knew that God was able to deliver them.

They were tied up (bound) and thrown into the furnace. The first thing that happened was the fact that because the temperature of the fire was raised so high, the men that put them in the furnace fell and died! They were consumed and overcome just from the heat!

Now, this did not prevent the young men from going into the fire. They still went in, bound. The king, seeing what happened to his men, jumped up in disbelief and then got an even bigger shock. He looked in the furnace and could not believe his eyes. He saw FOUR men in there….unbound………walking around…unharmed! “Did not we cast in THREE men?”, he asked. The men around him confirmed that. Now, use your imagination here. Don’t you wish you could’ve seen the king’s face?! He saw FOUR men……he saw the fourth man……and this man looked like the “Son of God” (KJV). The king called the men out of the furnace and they emerged totally unharmed. Their hair wasn’t burned, their clothing wasn’t burned, in fact, they didn’t even SMELL like smoke!

The fourth man not only delivered them unscathed, He got into the fire with them!
That fourth man is still stepping into fiery situations with us today. That fourth man is Jesus! And He stands ready and able at all times to walk with you, stand with you, sit with you, and even go through fire with you. Because He is with you, you no longer have to be afraid. He’s able!

I don’t know where the little red-haired children are today who used to torment me. Hopefully they have matured and grown just as I have and have come to know the Lord. As for me, I still love, respect, cherish and look up to my big brother Michael. And I’m doubly blessed because we have a “little” brother named Ira. They both look out for me and protect me as best they can. However, all three of us know that it is our God who is able and who have delivered us from a number of fiery furnaces.