It’s 9:16 PM, and Dan is still waiting.
Knock, knock, knock.
He glances through the window, and thankfully it was only his brothers. “Any word from YHWH yet?” Mishael asked.
“No, not yet, but I appreciate y’all for standing with me. You, Z, and Niah are the best, and I’m grateful for y’all.”
“Listen, we got you. You’re always encouraging us and staying the course. We were compelled to come and encourage you, too,” Hananiah said.
He began to stir around in the kitchen while the others beckoned Daniel to have a seat.
“Brother,” started Azariah, “It’s in the waiting where we gain the most strength, and we see just how much we are submitting to YHWH in our daily lives and publicly. Remember when we were young men under King Nebuchadnezzar?”
Daniel sighed as he began to reminisce on the different miracles they’ve lived through. “Yes, I do remember, Z. But, would you mind sharing the account with me again?”
“Let me interrupt, brothers. We all know that it takes Z forever just to get to one point, so maybe I should start instead,” Mishael laughed.
“Alright, alright, carry on then. I’m hungry anyway,” Z smirked.
“Daniel, I think you were on assignment in one of the other provinces because we didn’t see you at headquarters. Anyway, Hananiah, Azariah, and I had completed another fast, and the visions were pouring in. You remember Na’amin and the other chancellors hated us. Well, we caught wind that the builders completed the long-awaited statue of the king. Much transpired, but everything came to a head when the king commanded everyone to worship his image.”
“‘Ayyyyyyyy, that’s a no for me, bruh’ is what I wanted to say since y’all know sometimes I don’t have tact,” Z said, pointedly.
Mishael continued, “Of course, we refused respectfully because we do things in order. But, more than it comes to the laws and desires of people, we love and fear YHWH more. We also didn’t care about the outcome because we knew that we all are well whether we lived or died.
“King Nebuchadnezzar’s demons wanted to manifest so bad, but the Spirit of YHWH wouldn’t let them. He commanded them to throw us into the fiery furnace, heating it seven times hotter, killing the guards. We were unbothered, though, because we know YHWH is gracious and merciful. This is why we wanted to remind you of one of our many tests.”
A holy hush filled the room as they all reflected on how God kept those three in their most extreme hour of testing. Jesus Christ Himself was with them in that furnace and used His power to keep them from death and even smelling like smoke.
Daniel smiled as he remembered their first retelling. There was no doubt that just like the Lord showed Himself strong for his brothers, He would do the same for him. After all, it was 20 days since Daniel first prayed, and he had a feeling that tomorrow he’d know his waiting wasn’t in vain.
If you’d like to find out more about this story that I took creative liberties with, read Daniel 3 and Daniel 10.
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
