t this ruler with whom He dealt so personally
and unusually, time and again.

The three men, walking quietly up and down in the seven-times heated
furnace in company with a glorious looking person "like a son of the
gods"--this was the message God wanted spoken to the ruler He was pleading
with. His strangely marvellous power, and His personal regard for His
faithful followers--this was what God was trying to say to Nebuchadnezzar.
He asked the use of these three young men. Their personal loyalty to
Himself even unto death--this was what He wanted. _Through_ this He
reached the heart of the man He was after.

The experience of these men is an intensely interesting study. It was a
fearful ordeal that they went through. Yet it was wholly mental, and of
the spirit. They suffered no pain of body, nor inconvenience. The fire
only made them free, burned up the bonds that held them. It took great
strength of will, of decision, to stay steady through all the fearful
test. Yet _nothing happened to their bodies_ except to help them. God took
care of that. They gave Him what He asked. He gave them more than they
expected. They probably expected death and were willing. God had a deeper
plan He was working out. How glad they must have been that they followed
fully, that they didn't disappoint God.

Following meant simply being true, even though the road led through a
furnace. God would attend to the furnace. Their part was simply to follow
where He led. And our God is needing just such acted messages to-day. He
is longing for just such opportunities to reveal His power and love, not
merely _to us_, but through us to His world.

Let us take time for one more of these faithful followers. This time it is
a young woman. It is at the most critical juncture of God's plan, thus
far. He needed a woman whom He could use to bring His Son, and could use
further to mother that Son's early years. All unconsciously Mary of
Nazareth and of Bethlehem was fitting into His plan in her life, her
simple, pure, godly, personal life. We can understand that God wooed her
especially to such a life of heart devotion as a preparation for the after
part. And she said "Yes" to all His wooings, never suspecting what was to
come of it. You never know how much a simple "Yes" to God may mean, _or_ a
"No." You never know how much of service may grow out of the true life.
Yet all true service is something coming out of the life.

Then the plan of God was made kn