Faithfulness Through Fire

I was meditating on Daniel 3:17~18 some time ago.

If you remember the story, King Nebuchadnezzar had a ninety feet high golden statue of himself erected and decreed that all have to bow down and worship at the sound of the royal music.  Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into the blazing furnace.

When the time came, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down, and they had to suffer the consequence of being thrown into the furnace.

“If we are thrown into the furnace, the God we serve is able to save us & rescue us.  But even if He does not save us, we will not serve your gods,”  they replied.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not doubt God’s ability to save them.

Whether or not God will save them they cannot know.  That is immaterial.

Faithfulness is not dependent upon an escape hatch.  They choose faithfulness because it is the right thing to do, even if it costs them their lives.

Courage joyfully believes that God can do anything, but is prepared to suffer rather than compromise in obedience.

Now, let us raise the stakes a bit .........

Read again from the beginning and this time replace the word “save” with the word “heal”, and see how this affects your theology……..

Will we continue to trust God and be faithful to Him, 

even if He does not heal us of our sicknesses.....?

even if we do not know the reason why.....?

"Know that the LORD is God," and we are not (Psalm 100:3)