I was reflecting upon the story in Daniel 3 in the Bible a lot and all of a sudden, God reminds me of this meme from years ago hahahaha and I was compelled to draw what you’re seeing right now. And you should know I haven’t felt this urgency to draw or doodle like this for the past three years… anyways here we are. ((:

Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” While the world promises different ways to remove our problems or to be free from hardships, God explicitly says, “you will have trouble.” He could easily make it easy, take out the fire, move the mountain, or stop the storms. But no.

And that’s one of God’s qualities I’ve been learning more about recently is that God never lies. He is truthful. So when He says I will have trouble, I will have trouble. He doesn’t say, you will have some trouble orrrr do this and you won’t have trouble… no. 👏you. 👏will. 👏have. 👏trouble. 👏And boyyy, He is right. I have a lot em hehe a lottttt

One of my favourite passages to illustrate this is the story of Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. They were thrown into the fire as consequence for not worshipping the god of their king Nebuchadnezzar. Now if I were God, (thank God I’m not), and I love my kids Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I would either put out the fire or even wipe out the king who’s been planning to dump them there. But no. The king remained and the fire continued to burn. They even tied the friends up firmly just in case they plan to escape or fight back. The furnace was so hot that the very soldiers who threw Daniel’s friends there burned and died.

But here’s where it gets interesting, in Daniel 3:25, the king exclaims, “…Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” I imagine how this went, so the king probably was waiting for screaming or thrashing, but instead he saw four silhouettes walking around like they were walking in the beach or something. And in his head, the math isn’t mathing. He had put 3 people in, but why is he seeing 4? And the fourth one looks like a son of god?? (That’s pre-incarnate Jesus btw) Almost immediately, the king called them to come out of the fire.

The 3 friends came out, and not only did the fire failed to consume them, there was no trace of it at all in their bodies or in their clothes! No smoke, burn, and even smell. The king was amazed by what he had witnessed and started worshipping the one true God. ((:

So yes, Jesus said we will have trouble. We will suffer. But He also says, “… in me you may have peace.” He says in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” He says, “I have overcome the world.” This translates to me as, I will have trouble, but I will never be alone. And in Jesus, I have the victory too. ((:

Jesus is actually close to us when we go through different fires in our lives. Through Jesus, we could sleep in storms and walk in the fire. (He actually did those literally not just metaphorically hehe)

Truly, it’s not the absence of the problem that we know peace, but in His presence alone. 

So yes, even this is fine. ((: