The Accidental Explorer

The children still talk about it, and I can even laugh about it now after five years. When we first moved to Columbus, we went on a hunt for the local library. My husband had given me “sort of” directions but had accidentally forgotten the second half of a two name street. Not ever seeing the two name street, I never turned and ended up looking for the library in an industrial park, probably about ten miles away, two hours, many wrong turns, and much frustration later. How many times can you listen to “Hey Mom, I think we already passed this but it was on the other side of the street before.” As it turns out, the library is six minutes and four turns from our house. I had spent a lot of time driving in circles, and every conceivable geometric design, getting to someplace very far to a place which was very close.

However, after months, years, of driving in circles, getting lost and generally gorging myself on map quest and google maps, I am getting to know my way around. In fact, after a while, I find that I’ll be driving down a street, find that it intersects another, and think “This looks vaguely familiar. Oh, I didn’t know this street connected with this.” Or “Wow, I had no idea that these two roads ever met.” “Hey, I didn’t know I could get here from there.” It comes from years of driving in the same neighborhoods and, frankly, being willing to get lost on the road and driving until I get to where I need to be. The getting lost is never fun for anyone but the accidental exploration of the familiar territory is exciting…for me, anyway.

Sometimes when I am reading a verse in Scripture, I think “hey this sounds familiar, but it was on the other side of the page the last time.” Or, “hmm, does this Scripture connect with this other one over here?”

Pretend you are in the car with me. Driving straight

Psalms 12:5 & 6: “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the Lord. I will protect them from those who malign them. And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”

Furnace of clay…purified seven times…

Take a soft left turn

Daniel 3. This is the account of three young men who feared God in a foreign land even more than they honored the king. King Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the Persian empire around 600 B.C., had built a rather ostentatious statue to himself and had set up a handy schedule by which all in the empire would know the proper time to turn, face the statue, fall down and worship the statue. “But there [were] some Jews whom [he] had set over the affairs of the province of Babylon-Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego-who pay no attention to [Nebuchadnezzar]. They neither serve [his] gods nor the image of gold [he had] set up.” [Daniel 3:11, 12] The other wise men had ratted out these three young captive leaders and they were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar to account for their failings. They refused to bow and were willing to suffer the consequences of their faith in God. “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." [Daniel 3:16-19]

Stay with me, I’m still driving…but no longer in circles. I am seeing familiar signs. My turns are a little less random

Nebuchadnezzar was furious (vs 19) He ordered the furnace (getting closer) heated SEVEN TIMES HOTTER than usual. Hey, this Scripture intersects with Psalms12:6! The very high, very hot, seven times hotter than usual heat, which Nebuchadnezzar intended to incinerate the young men to ashes, was the same heat which God intended to purify these young men, as silver is refined seven times.

Take a hard right here…because I think I am on to something.

Why does Nebuchadnezzar feel like the furnace has to be heated up seven times hotter than normal? Uhm, wouldn’t the fire have burned up these young men in their “robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes” anyway? Nebuchadnezzar heated up the furnace so hot “that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.” The fire, seven times hotter than normal, was intended by Nebuchadnezzar to decimate the men. God intended it to purify them, like silver in a furnace of clay, intended that they would come forth as a testimony of His grace, power and protection, without even the smell of fire on them. [Daniel 3:27] And when they got out of the furnace Nebuchadnezzar said: "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way." [Daniel 3:28, 29]

Does it feel like you’re in a furnace right now? Getting hot? Consider this possibility: you are a letter, a testimony if you will, written on His heart, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [2 Cor 3:2 & 3] You are His word, His letter, refined in a furnace of clay, stoked seven times hotter than normal. But so also will you be purified seven times, for the display of His splendor.

Was that too many left turns?