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." (Daniel 3:16-18)
So these three men are threatened with death by fire if they do not bow down to the king and worship his image of gold. What struck me about their statement is not their faith that God will save them, but that His saving them from the furnace was not a condition of their obedience to Him. They were going to obey God regardless of what God did. If He saved them great; if He did not, they still would obey Him. What a great example!
In this story, God did come through. They were saved from the furnace. Yet there is another story, celebrated this week, where God did not save His Son. God the Son "emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond servant, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil. 2:7) He did so, enduring the fiery "furnace" of the cross, and the rejection of God in order that you and I might be saved. Here we find that Christ's obedience to the Father was not conditioned upon being saved from the cup that the Father made Him drink--He surrendered His will to the Father and drank it. "Not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)
Is my obedience to God conditional upon certain things? What things are these? Why am I allowing those things to separate me from Him? It seems that greater faith is grown through the surrender of expectations and the abandonment of one to Him. Even if He does or does not, will I follow Him? Will you?
No comments:
Post a Comment