I am sure that most people have heard of Shedrach, Meshach, Abednego and the burning furnace. This post isn't going to be about the entire story, it's going to be about having incredible faith in God no matter what happens.
Shedrach, 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 delver 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 3:16-18)
What I like about what the three guys say is that whether God delivers them or not from the fiery furnace that they still won't worship the king's gods and the image he set up. No matter what God was going to do in this situation, it was going to be more rewarding than worshipping other gods.
See they trusted God to deliver them, but they were determined to be faithful regardless of the consequences. If God always rescued those who were true to him, Christians would not need faith. Their religion would be a great insurance policy, and there would be lines of selfish people ready to sign up. We should be faithful to serve God whether he intervenes on our behalf or not. Our eternal reward is worth any suffering we may have to endure first.
I think the belief is sometimes that we will believe only when we know that God will help us prevail in whatever situation we are going through. Because we hate to be let down. We fear to fail and not see God answer our prayers.
But imagine having the mindset and the faith in God that no matter how he intervenes in the situation it is greater than consequences. Our situations don't define who we are, our faith in God does that.
My encouragement for you all is to have faith like Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego. No matter the outcome, our eternal reward is worth any suffering we may have to endure first.
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