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Firefighters can tell you that a house fire can burn at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

And because heat rises, the hottest point of the room in a house fire is around the ceiling, which some experts say can reach 1,500 degrees.

I can’t imagine that kind of heat.

So when I think of a Bible story where a king really turned up the heat, I imagine a horrifically hot fire.

We can find this story in the book of Daniel.

It begins in Babylon, where three young Hebrew men, who’ve been taken from their homes, are in captivity.

Their names are Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

We know them by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

At this point in Bible history, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar has built a 90-foot-tall gold statue, which he orders everyone to bow down and worship.

Those who don’t will be thrown into a fiery furnace.

Guess who won’t bow down?

Yep. It was those three Hebrew men, who just happen to be in positions of authority.

When some jealous astrologers tattle to the king about the three men’s noncompliance, he is enraged.

Nebuchadnezzar commands that the men be brought to him.

He’s ready to give them a second chance.

If they bow down and worship the statue, Nebuchadnezzar will be satisfied.

But if they don’t, they’ll immediately be cast into the fiery furnace.

“And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” the king asks.

Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t know the God behind the three brave men.

That’s when they display incredible God-fueled courage.

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us,” the men say. “And he will deliver us from your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Did you notice they said, “Even if he does not …?”

Oh, how many of us can say that?

“Even if God does not … heal me … or give me that perfect job or a child or a spouse ….?

It’s a remarkable statement.

These men aren’t just refusing to bow down to a statue.

They’re refusing to bow down to fear.

The king becomes furious and orders the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual.

So I’m thinking this had to be reaching at least the 1,000-degrees Fahrenheit mark.

The king commands some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the furnace.

Don’t you wonder what was going through their minds?

Were they determined to be brave to the end?

Were they praying to God for deliverance or, at least, a quick death?

Were they remembering the homes they’d been taken from or thinking they’d soon be seeing loved ones in paradise?

It doesn’t sound like they had much time to think at that point.

The men are still wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes when they are bound and thrown into the furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar’s command is so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fire kills the soldiers who take up the three men and toss them in.

Remember heat rises, so the hottest point must have been around the top.

It’s no wonder those strong soldiers died.

What happens to the three men who fall inside?

Suddenly, the king leaps to his feet.

"Weren't there three men we tied up and threw into the fire?" he asks those around him.

Everyone agrees the king's math is correct.

"Look," he says, "I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!"

Stop. Put yourself in these guy’s sandals for a minute.

What was it like to walk in a fiery furnace unharmed?

Did they look at their arms and hands - amazed because the ropes were gone?

Did they look at the fourth man (now believed to be an angel or a preincarnate manifestation of Christ) and wonder who he was?

Or did they just marvel in his presence?

The king orders our three fellows to come out of the fire, which they do.

They're not hurt, their clothes aren't scorched - and they don't even smell like smoke.

I don't know how long they stayed in that furnace, but it doesn't sound like they were there too long before the king called them out.

If it were me, I might have thought it was safer to stay in the furnace than go out to meet that hot-tempered king.

But I doubt these men had much - if any - fear after that.

I'll bet it burned away with those ropes - which makes me wonder something else:

Does it sometimes take a fiery trial to make us realize just how close God really is?

And is it possible to love those furnace times, because that can be the time when we feel God the most near and see his power deliver us in the most amazing ways?

It reminds me of the Scripture in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43, verses 1-3, which, in part, reads:

"....Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you my name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

"When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

"For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

I recall a fiery trial I went through years ago, when it seemed like I was in the center – in the hottest part.

Looking back, I remember feeling that all the peripheral stuff I’d previously worried about didn’t matter.

A couple grudges I’d harbored seemed to burn away like the ropes on those three men.

When you’re in a fiery trial you realize what’s trivial – like being angry about how someone offended you years ago - and what really matters – like trusting the God who sees the future that you do not.

Our God can bring us out of those fiery times to a better place.

I love the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, because it’s not only a story of bravery in the face of danger.

It’s a picture of fire-proof faith.

I pray that God will provide me with this faith whenever I face a fiery trial.

Because I truly believe nobody can walk us through one of those 1,500-degree Fahrenheit kind of fires like our beloved Savior Jesus.

Tammy Real-McKeighan is news editor of the Fremont Tribune. She writes a weekly spiritual column.

Originally published on columbustelegram.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.