Inspired by Daniel 3.
Growing up, I had a friend who would always ask her dad things, because she knew that her dad would always say yes to her. I look back at this and laugh - we would always scheme out what we wanted and make sure to ask her dad at the right time, because we knew that he would say yes. I wouldn’t consider either of us really spoiled kids, but we both were fully aware that she had a “yes dad”. We would only use this trick when we really wanted something though - we didn’t want to take advantage of him all the time. Hold on tight, because I’ll get back to this.
Daniel 3 is a beautiful story in the Old Testament. Long story short, King Nebuchadnezzar had commanded all people to fall down and worship a golden image he had built. Three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to fall down and worship this idol. They were brought before the king and, if found guilty of not following the command of the king, they would be thrown into a burning and fiery furnace. Their response:
Daniel 3:16-18: ... “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 the 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.”
These men were BOLD. They basically tell the king that YES, our God is able to deliver us, but if He doesn’t, we will still serve Him alone. They are not only bold, but they are also confident that their God is THE God and, regardless of the outcome, they will serve Him alone.
Just as Nebuchadnezzar had promised, his response was to heat the furnace seven times more and they threw them into it. The men who threw them into the furnace were killed because of the heat, but the three men are seen in the furnace walking with a FOURTH man present. They were called out of the furnace, and they walked out without a single mark of harm to their body. Their God, OUR God, stepped into that furnace with them and walked with them. He didn’t just watch from the throne, but entered INTO the furnace with them.
So good.
Let it be noted here that, even though I’m taking one piece of this story, there are so many directions I could take this with such a beautiful and dense passage that Daniel 3 is - who knows, maybe that’ll be the next thing to come out on this site :)
Back to the main point: the three men got their happy ending here in this story. They walked free without a mark or a burn from the fiery furnace that none else could approach. As Daniel 3:27 says, “…the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.” Not only did they walk out of the furnace unharmed (not to mention that NONE of King Nebuchadnezzar’s men who threw them into the fire could survive the heat, but these men WALKED in it), but their faith was unshaken. They were confident that they worshipped a God who is ABLE, and God surely was (and still is) able to deliver them from this fire, all for HIS glory. SO GOOD.
However, I also want to think about the alternative. These three men were so confident in the one true God that, even if God did not save them from the furnace, they would still worship HIM alone and no other “gods” in His rightful place. I hope to never be in the situation that these three men were in during this story. I like the heat, but being thrown into a furnace is something I hope to never encounter. However, I pray that I can take on the same attitude that the three men had: the confidence that, regardless of the outcome, my God is the ONLY one worthy of my worship and praise.
Circling back way to the beginning, our God is not the “yes dad” that I learned to take advantage of as a kid. God has the complete picture. Every detail of the past, present, and into eternity, is known and orchestrated by Him and Him alone. He is all-knowing and sovereign over all. In contrast, I have a limited mind. I cannot possibly fathom knowing the amount that He knows. My brain isn’t capable of being all-knowing like God. The things I may ask for now based on my current situation, He has a much better and bigger perspective than I ever could imagine.
Life is full of hard things, some things which may feel or seem impossible to navigate. We tend to get a narrow view of what we think things should look like, but He has the full view. In light of this, He might (and by might, I mean he WILL) say no at times. I will not even pretend to have the mind of God and know why He says yes to some things and no to other things. He knows the full plan, and I only know pieces of it. Am I willing to TRUST Him and His plan, even if He says no? Am I just as willing to WORSHIP Him in the midst of the hard things as I am when things work out exactly how I prayed? I pray that this answer is always YES. YES, I will trust and worship a God who is all-knowing and sovereign, who says both yes and no, because I have seen the “no’s” in my life that have turned out to be the most beautiful blessing. I have seen the “no’s” that have saved me from a sticky situation or something that could have been very harmful to me. God is capable of doing literally anything, but He doesn’t always (and PRAISE God for that).
God, I pray that, in both the moments you say “yes” and “no”, I can continue to trust you and worship you, because you are GOOD, and you know much more than I ever could. I pray that I can lean into who you are and have the confidence to bodly profess my faith in you as my one and only God, and that I can humbly come to you as my KING, every single day.
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