Burned Bonds

I like the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In itself, it's a thrilling story. Three men, taken captive to a foreign country, stand their ground and refuse to bow to the king's golden image. While all around them are on their faces, these three stand tall. And they win. A good story of courage and principled living.

Of course, more recently I've become enamoured specifically with their response to the king. Nebuchadnezzar was livid. "If you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?" (Dan 3:15) "We don't answer to you," they basically said. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king." (Dan 3:16-17) Bold. Daring. We like it. But then they said, "But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods." (Dan 3:18) Now, see? They've gone a step farther. We're used to "Dear God, if You'll just do this for me, I'll serve You." We get that. We deal with God, a little give and take. Not these three. "Dear God," they were saying, "even if You do not save us, we will serve You." You see, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren't in the business of dictating to God what was right for Him to do. They believed that whatever He chose to do, it would be right, so they would do what was right regardless of God's intervention. That's faith.

Most recently another aspect occurred to me. You know the rest of the story. The king superheated the ovens, had them thrown in, and then discovered that they weren't hurt at all. More to the point, he saw four men in the fire where they only threw in three, and one of them looked like "a son of the gods." So he called them back out, discovered they were untouched (except their bonds were burned off), and blessed God. Good ending. No, a great ending. But something struck me about this story. Their God did not prevent them from being thrown into the fire, but He did save them ... in the midst of the fire. Most importantly, He did it with them. He was there in the fire. Not only were they not singed; they weren't alone.

When (not if) we encounter trials, we can keep this in mind. We are not the ones to decide for God what He should do; we are the ones that are simply to trust Him. In that, however, we can have the absolute confidence that He's not "away," He's not gone. He's not "up there somewhere" watching us squirm. He's there with us, in the trial, making sure it all goes as He plans ... for our good. He doesn't send us in there on our own; He's right there with us. In that place -- in fire and bonds and His presence -- we only stand to lose the things that bind us. That's good to keep in mind.