Hope in the Fire

Daniel 3:19-30..:

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king." 25 He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. 27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.
28 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 "Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." 30 Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.

Towering above the landscape of western LA is the majestic Getty museum...a treasure of culture, one of the greatest art museums in North America, if not the world. You really need an appointment to even get in to the Getty...and there are plenty of takers. It really is marvelous....

Near the Getty, though, is a smaller museum that is much less well-known. The Skirball Museum is a museum that celebrates Jewish life. It is filled with colorful displays of different aspects of culture...birth, marriage, occupation, celebration. It is, as much as any other museum, a total display about being ALIVE.

In the middle of the Skirball, is an exhibit that is out of place. While the museum is bright, this exhibit is dark. While the museum celebrates life, this holds the fear of death. While the Skirball is wide and open, this exhibit winds to a narrow halt in a space barely big enough for a few people.

The exhibit is eerie, it is impactful, it is painful, it is transcendent. It is also simple...it is a winding dark spiral that culminates with the picture of a young woman, obviously fearful, facing the horrors of the Holocaust.

In a short space, one unravels into the horror to end all horrors. Devoid of sensory images that have, until this exhibit, amused and beguiled, this lack of color, this lack of stimulation, is even starker. Yet, as you reach the end of the spiral, and face the portrait there with you, you can feel the fear of the person portrayed.

But…you are not alone…..

The spiritual crisis of the Holocaust is indescribable….Where was God amidst the horror? If God is truly all powerful, then where is He?

The testimony that comes out of the Holocaust, not unlike survivors from other horrors, is that God truly was there. Like the fourth person stepping into the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego…God is with us as we enter the fire.

Our greatest hope is not that God might keep us from trials and hurt…because, we know they will come. Our hope is that we do not have to face the fire alone, that He might be with us and help us endure. The hope in the fire is that horror, pain, and suffering, though they may be a very real part of this world, do not have the final say….and that the God of Heaven and Earth is not so distant as to be deaf to our prayers.

We worship Emmanuel, "God with us," because we know we are not alone…