by Brian Kiley

Created on: May 09, 2009   Last Updated: May 16, 2009

In one of the my favorite stories in the Bible, three God-fearing men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are captives in a foreign land. While in captivity, their captor, King Nebuchadnezzar, decrees that they must, by law, bow to the statue that he has created as a god when the trumpet sounds, or be subject to incineration in a fiery furnace.

The three men, knowing that an act of such false religious observance was prohibited by the God of Israel, refused to do so. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, he called them into his courts, and I will pick up the story in Daniel 3:14 (pay special attention to the reply of the three men in the second paragraph):

"Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, 'Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I ave made, well and good. But it you do not worship you shall immediately be case into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from he burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

"But if not."

I love that line. I love the fact that these three men were able to stand in front of a king who could unilaterally end their lives on a whim and they expressed bold confidence that their God could deliver them from his hands. I love even more that these men said that even if their God chose not to, they were going to continue to worship and obey him. That, right there, is trust.

True trust, I believe, transcends circumstance. It transcends the need for God to behave in the way that we want him too. True trust recognizes that God can do anything, and it pledges allegiance to God alone, regardless of God chooses to show his power in the way that we desire.

It is easy, I believe, to worship God's blessings rather than worship God. Similarly, it is easy to enter into a sort of transactional relationship with God in which we develop the understanding that if we pray enough, serve enough, read the Bible enough, and otherwise go through the motions enough, God will do our bidding. The unfortunate reality is that when we adopt that sort of attitude, we become our own god, and we (albeit often subconsciously) expect God to submit to us. Additionally, God in his mercy has made it clear that he does not operate under that sort of a system.

True trust in God, like that displayed by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, expresses complete faith in God's power, and expresses complete commitment to continue to worship God as God, whether he chooses to act in the way that seems best to us or not. This sort of trust allows us to submit ourselves to the lordship of the one who promises that, "in this world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33), but also promises that he will, "wipe away every tear" (Rev. 21:4).

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