Tuesday, August 11, 2015

BUT IF NOT...

Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, zither, the lyre, harp, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, fall down and worship the image which I have made. But if you do not worship, in that moment you shall be thrown into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god who shall deliver you out of my hand? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to return a word to you on this matter. If it is so that our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, then He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and the form of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded mighty men in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to throw them into the burning fiery furnace.  Daniel 3:14-20 MKJV
BUT IF NOT...
I believe with all my heart that God is able.  He is able to heal every kind of disease.  He is able to alter circumstances.  He is able to change hearts.  He is able to quench fires.  He is even able to raise the dead.  That is also what these three Hebrew boys believed.  They said as much to the king! They were willing to bet their lives on God's ability to deliver them from the fires of the angry king's furnace. What an awesome faith!
Their faith, however, was even greater than that.  They had such faith that they were able to say that God is able to deliver us, BUT even if he chooses not to do so, we will still do the right thing.  That, my friend, is an unbeatable faith. What can Satan or his demons do to someone with that kind of faith?  It is a devil-beating, disaster-taming, death-defying faith.
We are quick to share an after-the-fact story about how God delivered us but faith is a before-the-fact confession that He will deliver!  Some see such statements as naivety or mere positive thinking.  Others say someone is just not facing the facts.  But faith does face the facts.  The difference is it faces them from the perspective of God.
Will God always deliver us from the fire?  Of course not.  We live in a fallen world and are vulnerable to its dangers.  The real question is, “Will you still trust God when the fire burns you?”  What will you do if God doesn't deliver?  What if that cancer is not cured? What if you really are laid off? What if he (she) does not come back?  Will you still believe?  Will you still love God?  Will you still do the right thing? 
If you can trust God even when your faith is put through the fiery trial then you have a foundation that is unshakable, a treasure chest of hope that will never be empty.  You have the kind of faith that baffles the world and infuriates the devil. And you have the kind of God Who is able to deliver you...whether it is from the fire or through the fire. He is able.


Scripture to Claim:

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  Hebrews 11:6 NASB

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