"Even If He Does Not"

Scripture:  Daniel 3:17-18
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.

Observations:
In yesterday's A New Thing post, I looked at the importance of hope and trusting God's promise to do a new thing in situations we have prayed over for so long.  But one little thing was still niggling at the back of my mind: Not every prayer gets answered the way we hope it will.  I have to be careful talking about this scripture.  I am tempted to allow this to be a cop-out for whole-hearted faith.  But that is not what is going on in this story.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were about to get thrown into a huge bonfire for not worshiping King Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue.  And these two verses are their response to the king.  There are three important parts to this response:

• "The God we serve is able to deliver us"- See?  This is how we know their faith never faltered.  They didn't say, "God might choose to deliver us."  They said, "Whether or not he does, he is able to.  They fully trusted in his power whether or he answered their prayer the way they hoped.
• "He will deliver us"- They were speaking life over the situation.  They were "believing and receiving" as Pastor Chris would call it.  They were claiming their streams in the desert!
• "But even if he does not"- They acknowledged here that sometimes God has a plan that we cannot understand and that there was a possibility that God was going to use this situation for his glory without saving their lives.  And they choose to worship Him alone anyway.

Application:

Too often, when we don't see changes in our desert situation, we start this terrible script in our minds-- "I must not be praying hard enough… God doesn't hear me… God must not love me… I guess I don't have enough faith… God can't change this situation… it's been this way too long… This situation is what I deserve… I am all alone."  These are lies from hell!  

Instead we have to train our hearts and minds to follow the script of these three faithful guys in the face of the blazing furnace:

• "God, you are able to change this situation.  I don't know if it's part of your plan to change it.  You may have immeasurably more than I can imagine (Ephesians 3:20) that you are going to do right here in the wilderness.  But you are all-powerful, in control, and completely able to change it."
• "You will work in this situation.  You have a plan for the person I love that is far from you.  You love her more than I do.  You are doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:18)."
• "Even if I never get to see the change that I have been praying for, I know that you are working all things for the good (Romans 8:28).  I know that your ways are higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:9).  I know that you are good, and I will worship you.  I want to glorify you."

Prayer:

God, you are all-powerful!  You are in complete control.  Thank you for your promise to make a way in the wilderness.  Lord, I pray that you would help me to trust you more.  I pray that I would learn from the time I spend in the wilderness waiting for your path.  And I pray that I would have the confident assurance that you are right here with me the whole time.  I pray that no matter what the outcome of this situation, you would use my life for your glory.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

Confident in this…

Miranda