"You are able to deliver from the fire of affliction
It's the declaration of my Lord
You're not an image of gold
You're the God of old
You have made up
Come and save us
We are Yours
But even if You don't"
- Burn Us Up, Shane and Shane
This last week I've had the Shane and Shane song "Burn Us Up" stuck in my head (see bottom of post for video with the song and behold the goodness if you haven't ever heard it.)
Why has said song been stuck in my head? So, to back it up, at Easter we had conversation cards at the dinner I was at, and one of my questions was, "What is your favorite Bible story and why?"
What a question. And honestly a question I hadn't thought about in awhile. I grew up hearing Bible stories, but I hadn't ever claimed a story as my "favorite." I know all the classics. Moses freeing his people from slavery, Noah saving his family from destruction, Daniel in the lions den, David defeating Goliath, Jonah and the whale, and the list goes on. I resonate with different stories in the Bible, stories like Jonah remind me of my own selfishness and desire to run in the direction I choose when God asks me to do hard things. But, yet I hadn't ever chosen a "favorite."
After sitting and thinking, I think my favorite story in the Bible is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace. Which, if you've listened to the song below, now makes total sense why that's been stuck in my head.
The song tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. there was a command from King Nebuchadnezzar that when the music played, everyone had to bow down to the big bunny statue...er... wait. That's the Veggie Tale's version. Try number two: They had to kneel down before the golden idol and worship or risk being thrown into a fiery furnace. Well. As you can imagine, the three amigos were like, "we serve the one true Lord, we will not bow down to an idol of gold," and refused to bow. So these boys get thrown into the fire, and as you all know, emerge without a single hair on their head singed. I think the impact of this story though lies in three simple words in the middle of their dialogue with the king:
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
Daniel 3:16-18
"But if not."
What a bold statement. These three men were facing death in a furnace heated to seven times what it normally was, and they dared say to the King's face, "we won't bow because God is able to save us, but even if he doesn't? We still wouldn't bow." The men who threw these men into the furnace were even killed because it was so super-heated. This was not a "maybe you can make it out alive by your own power" sort of moment. This was an all-God and nothing else moment.
This whole story forces me to ask this question: Is my faith so grounded that I can say in all confidence that despite what I'm going through and the potential outcome of any situation, "God can deliver/turn this situation into what I want, but even if not, I will still believe and trust in his goodness?"
I feel like most of the major events in my life have lead me to this one question about the Lord, "Do you trust me?"
Do I trust that me losing one of my best friends was for his greater good?
Do I trust that I moved back to Little Rock for a reason and purpose?
Do I trust that the decisions I have to make that seem like a lose-lose situation will actually be beneficial and life-giving?
Do I trust that he can provide for me financially, in friendships, and eventually with a husband?
But even if he doesn't. I will trust. Even if life looks nothing like I thought it would, I will trust in Him. Even if the next step is scary, I will trust in Him.
Am I willing to take a stand for my faith in the midst of adversity and know that God is able, but even if he doesn't deliver me from whatever it is I'm struggling through, he is still good, and he is still God?
These are not easy questions to wrestle with, but I know that unless I struggle with the reality of my answer to those questions, I will never be able to say in the face of an overheated furnace "But even if he doesn't show up the way I want, I will not bow."
"Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way."
Daniel 3:29
Until next time,
Jackie
