October 11th

OCTOBER 11th

The challenge to you today is to say “Even If.”

In Daniel chapter 3 we read the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These 3 young, smart, Hebrew men refused to bow and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol despite being threatened with death in a fiery furnace.

Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, 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.”

Their response is rather profound when you consider the circumstances. Not only did they face death, it was death by fire, extremely painful. Not only did they face death by fire, they stood their ground on 100% faith. Maybe this doesn’t seem profound to you but remember, this was before Jesus came, it was before the indwelling Holy Spirit. This was still in the days that only the high priest could present sacrifices. It was in the days of the prophets (Jeremiah) relaying messages from God.

I would bet that this would be challenging for us and WE have the Holy Spirit IN us. We have His resurrection power within us. We have the Words and example of Jesus. This gives us the advantage of personally experiencing Jesus. These 3 men had not met Jesus, they had not read of His love and sacrifice for them because it had not happened yet. But they still believed. They did have the history told to them of God’s interaction with mankind, and they had the history told to them of God’s rescue of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. But they had not experienced it personally and here they were enslaved/conquered by Babylon and they still believed.

They made a firm and confident statement about the ability of Yahweh to rescue them. But they were willing to stand EVEN IF He chose not to rescue them this particular time. It paid off! They ended up being some of the few people of the Old Testament who met Jesus in person before they died!

Daniel 3:24-25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” …He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Jesus showed up in the fire with them!

Are you facing a “fiery furnace” today? Maybe you have prayed that God remove a particular hard thing from your life. Ask Him to help you with the Even If part of it. Even if he doesn’t remove it, will you praise Him? Even if He doesn’t remove it, will you have faith? Even if you don’t understand it, will you stand firm trusting His love for you will keep you safe in Him? Maybe you need to pray that His will be done instead.

It is hard for us to surrender ourselves to His will when it means hard things, but that could mean that we miss out on “meeting Jesus in the fire” or other miracles. Which would you rather have? An easy, trouble-free life, or Jesus in the fire with you?

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who i have been called according to his purpose.

Lord Jesus, thank you for always using all things for my good, even the hard things. Help me to be willing to surrender to your will even when I don’t understand. Help me be willing to stand in faith EVEN IF you don’t remove me from the difficult circumstances. Help me to recognize your hand working in those situations and help me to learn what you have for me in the midst of it. Thank you for your Word and for your Holy Spirit!