Facing the Fire

There is a story Dr. John Delony creates in his book Building a Non-Anxious Life that helps us understand anxiety, and demonstrates how many of us choose to deal with it.

It's a story about a man sitting on his couch, overwhelmed and checked out.

The fire alarm in his kitchen starts blaring. It's ear-piecing and persistent, yet he tries to ignore it. He buries his head in a decorative couch pillow. At least, he tries to. He cranks up the TV volume. He eventually goes and yanks the batteries out of one alarm and duct-tapes pillows over another.

Finally, it’s quiet. Sort of.

The man returns to the couch, struggling to breathe as smoke fills the room. And then the ceiling caves in. The whole house is engulfed in the inferno.

The fire was real all along. But instead of facing it, he tried to silence the alarm.

This, Delony says, is how we treat anxiety. We numb it. Avoid it. Medicate it. But anxiety is not the enemy. It’s the alarm.

The fire is the deeper issue—the toxic relationship, secret sin, an unhealed wound, debt, or spiritual compromise. And if we ignore the alarms, our lives can burn down around us.

Today, I’m writing about another fire. This one wasn’t in a kitchen. It was a furnace, ordered by a tyrant. But the alarm was ringing all the same. And the choice was clear: bow to the pressure, or stand in the fire.

The Other Fire

King Nebuchadnezzar built a golden statue—90 feet tall. He issued a decree: "When you hear the music, bow down and worship. If not, you’ll be thrown into the blazing furnace." 

Everyone bowed. Of course they did. Who wants to die? 

But three young men—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—stood tall. When the music played, they didn’t move.

The king gave them a second chance. He liked them. Respected them. But he made it clear: "Bow or burn.”

Their response was calm, clear, and full of conviction: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. But even if He does not, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Furious, Neb ordered the furnace to heated seven times hotter and threw them in.

The guards who threw them in died from the heat. But inside the fire, something miraculous happened.

The king cried out in alarm, "Didn’t we throw in three men? I see four, unbound, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

He called them out. And when they stepped out of the flames, not a hair on their heads was singed. Their clothes weren’t scorched. They didn’t even smell like smoke.

This isn’t just a story of survival. It’s a blueprint for facing anxiety, pressure, and tyranny with unshakable faith 

The Music of Manipulation

"When you hear the music, bow."

That was the command. Not a debate. Not a law with reason. Just a signal to surrender.

Music here represents emotional manipulation. It bypasses logic and appeals to fear, pressure, urgency, and emotion. You may know what that music feels or sounds like:

A toxic relationship where love is used as a leash. A boss or parent who expects you to dance to their tune without question. The internal pressure of perfectionism, shame, or fear that plays in your mind like a song you can’t get out of your head 

This “music” isn’t about art or creativity. This is about control. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t care about their heart. He just wanted them on their knees.

And this still happens. Tyrants—both external and internal—still use emotional coercion to demand worship.

Tyrants and Images

Nebuchadnezzar didn’t just demand obedience. He built an image—a towering, golden monument to himself. But it wasn’t real. It wasn’t him. It was his ego.

Tyrants always build images. On social media, in politics, in families, in churches. They want you to believe in the illusion so they don’t have to deal with their own weakness. They want submission, not transformation. Fear, not faith.

And our flesh does this too. Our old nature demands comfort, validation, and control. It wants to be king.

But the kingdom of God isn’t built on illusion. It’s built on truth. And sometimes that truth means refusing to bow, even when the heat is rising.

Anxiety Is the Alarm, Not the Fire

Think about it, everyone in Babylon had to have been anxious living under the rule this ego-maniac. They weren’t anxious for no reason. The anxiety was real. There was literally a tyrant with a furnace. The alarm was justified.

But the question is: What do you do when the alarm goes off?

Most people bowed. Not because they believed but because they were afraid. They quieted the alarm by cooperating. They didn’t want the smoke. They just wanted peace even if it meant pretending. But pretending doesn’t put out fires, it only delays the destruction.

Like the smoke alarm story, most of us duct-tape pillows to our alarms—we binge-watch, scroll, numb, or do some other mostly socially-acceptable activities to stay busy. And all the while, the fire grows.

The three Hebrew men did something radical. They faced the alarm. Then they faced the fire.

How to Face the Fire

You don’t face the fire with emotion and hype music as if it’s the kickoff for a football game. You face the fire with conviction. This is faith. Faith isn’t excitement, it is being convinced of God’s competence.

These men didn’t know what would happen. They didn’t say, "God will definitely rescue us." They said, "Even if He doesn’t, we still won’t bow." This wasn’t about outcomes. It was about obedience. It wasn’t about control. It was about surrender. They didn’t stand because they knew the ending. They stood because they knew their God.

Jesus in the Fire

God didn’t stop the fire. He entered it. The fourth man in the furnace wasn’t an illusion. Many scholars believe it was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. He showed up right there in the heat, flames and pressure. God didn’t rescue them before the fire. He walked with them inside it.

There was Another in the fire.

Some of you are in the fire right now. The heat is real. The pressure is real. The fear is real. But so is the presence of God. You may feel bound, gagged and alone. But if you refuse to bow, you will walk free. You may go in tied up, but you’ll come out untouched. Not even smelling like smoke.

Closing Challenge

We all hear the music. We all feel the alarm. The temptation to bow is constant. But some things aren’t worth staying alive for. Some things are worth suffering for. Your body may be built to survive but your spirit is built to honor God.

Don’t just silence the alarm, face the fire. And when you do, you’ll find you are not alone.

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand firm. And let the God who walks in the flames meet you.