God is God, whatever the outcome
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:1
This is the start of one of the most well-known incidents in the whole Bible – the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In this story, the King decrees that when the people hear the music, they have to stop what they’re doing, bow down and worship the golden statue. Everyone does. Of course they do. This is the King. The King has to be obeyed. Or else.Or else they will end up in the blazing furnace (It’s like a game of Musical Statues with very, very high stakes!).
Everyone apart from the Jews however. They will not bow down to this idol. And some of the wise men, the astrologers, seize this opportunity to discredit these men who have risen to popularity in the King’s world. These men have gained prominence in their world. Everything they do is scrutinised. And when there’s an opportunity to drag then down, it will be pounced upon.
But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up. Daniel 3:12
The astrologers know how to get to the King – they make it personal.
‘They pay no attention to you.’ Who do they think they are? After all you’ve done for them! What a cheek! They’re not like the rest of us. They can’t be trusted.
And so Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are tied up and thrown into the burning furnace, which has been heated seven times hotter than usual, so hot that the soldiers throwing them in are killed.
Nebuchadnezzar is amazed when he can see four men walking together in the furnace. Four men? Walking around in a furnace? How can that be? And so he opens the door and the three men walk out unharmed, clothes unsinged, without even the smell of the fire on them. Completely untouched.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” Daniel 3:28-29
What a great story about how God rescues us from all adversity! How God delivers in every situation! What a wonderful witness to God’s saving power!
Yes, it is. But there is so, so much more to this story than this. Because there may be some of you out there thinking of examples where God has seemingly not rescued you or someone you care about from adversity. All the years of persistent personal praying and powerful prayer meetings seem to have made no difference at all. God has not delivered. This doesn’t seem like a good witness at all. So as churches, we don’t know what to do with this and we look the other way and focus on the victories and all the ways in which God has answered our prayers and sing our songs of victory…and those still suffering are left in confusion and doubt, not sure what to think and not sure how they can go on another day.
Wait! Listen to this exchange from the middle of the chapter that is so overlooked. An exchange that to me is fundamental to our faith.
“But if you do not worship the image of gold, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
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.” Daniel 3:15-18
Wow. Just wow.
We do not need to defend ourselves. Our God is able to deliver us. But even if He does not, He is still God and we will not serve your gods. God can save us if He chooses, but if not, He is still God.
This is what Gerard Kelly describes as an ‘elastic faith’ in his book ‘Stretch’. A faith that stretches and yet never breaks. A faith that is not dependent on what happens, on the outcome of prayer, in what God does in our situation. It’s an unshakeable faith that God is God, whatever He decides to do or not do.
I find this incredibly helpful. Living with some pretty intolerable stuff going on in my world for a long while now, prayer has evolved and become less about pleading for things to change and more about affirming who God is and allowing Him to support me in my situation.
It’s about developing a resilience in the blazing furnace, rather than being delivered from it. I rarely get through a day unsinged, unharmed, untouched, without the smell of the fire on me, but I am not consumed by the flames. I am not destroyed.
Remember this promise from the Book of Isaiah?
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead. Isaiah 43:2-3
God’s people at that time would certainly have remembered. And they would be struggling to see how this current occupation of Jerusalem and exile of all the Jewish movers and shakers would have fitted in with this promise. Every day, the people would be feeling that the waves were about to overcome them and the flames consume them. And where was God now? Why was He not delivering them? What kind of God did that make God? Unwilling to act? Unable to act? Not really a god at all?
This story draws a clear parallel to what is going on for the Jews as a people at that time – and to what is going on in our world and in our lives today. These three young men show vividly that ‘faith in Yahweh may not always bring a deliverance from adversity but it will always bring deliverance in adversity’ (page 78, Stretch). Their faith stretches between the affirmation that God can save them and the reality that He may not.
This kind of faith only rises to the surface when we are taken to beyond what we feel we can bear. When the valley of the shadow of death is longer and darker and deeper than we could ever have imagined. When we cry out to God and He doesn’t answer. When we plead for Him to take this load from us and He does not. Our faith at times like these cannot rest on answered prayer. We have to rely totally on the truth of who God is at these times. That never changes.
Above all, it is a faith that cannot be grounded in any expectation of comfort and ease: that cannot look to circumstance for its support. Page 78, Stretch
Our faith is grounded in a God who is faithful and unchanging, yesterday, today and forever. The only one who is unchanging in an ever-changing landscape. The only one who can bring certainty, the only one who is a sure refuge in the storms of life. Our faith has to develop over time, through all the good times as well as the bad, so that when the unbearable times comes, our faith is already in place.
And our faith is grounded in a God who is good. A God who wants the best for us.Even if it doesn’t look like it, we have to trust in this truth. Whatever the outcome, God is good and His love endures forever. This isn’t double think, pretending that everything is OK when it clearly isn’t. It’s a statement of faith that is true whatever happens. God is good and His love can be trusted.
Prayer is not about telling God what to do and depending on the outcome to build up our faith. ‘He does not need to heal me in order to be God’ (Page 83, Stretch). It’s about sharing everything with God and then throwing ourselves on His mercy and goodness and love. Whatever the outcome.
