Monday, June 25: Daniel 3 - Faith without demands.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are amazing men of faith. They held to their faith moorings in a pagan land while serving as officials to a pagan king. The more I think about this, the more integrity I see in these men. What they did is not easy. Somehow they were able to not allow power and prestige to  corrupt them.

This trio is severely tested when commanded by the king to worship a statue he had built for himself. Facing certain death for insolence the text explains the account this way. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O 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 save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (16-18).

 

This trio had complete faith in God without making any demands that God has to work in a certain way to prove He is God. Our God is able to save… but even if he does not…

We know how the story turns out. God does save them in a miraculous manner. They, however, did not know the outcome when they professed reliance upon God. Their faith in God did not waver; they left the outcome of their trial in God’s hands.

I thought of Stephen in the NT (Acts 7).  He carried similar faith. Yet in his situation, he died from stoning, the first martyr of the Christian faith.

It is the faith of these four men that inspires me.  A faith that will hold on to the Lord no matter the pressure; faith to believe God can and does do the impossible; and yet a faith that makes no demands on God, believing God knows best what will advance His kingdom. As one confession of the church puts it: in life and in death I belong to God.

Lord, may I live with the faith of Shadrach, Meshach Abednego and Stephen… full out for You, fully dependent upon You and trusting the outcome of my faith-filled decision to You. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.