The Sovereignty of God
"...if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you don't worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace... Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, "King Nebuchadnezzar, if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us... But even if God does not, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Daniel 3: 15-18
The triumphant story of the Hebrew boys and their deliverance from the flames of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace is one of the best known and best loved stories in the Bible. Listening to the story as a boy, the highlight for me was always when King Nebuchadnessar looked into the flames that were meant to incinerate the Hebrew boys, only to find them walking in the furnace, untouched by the fire and with a fourth person in their midst.
But the highlight of the story for me now has shifted from the dramatic deliverance of the Hebrew boys from the furnace to the determined resolve of the Hebrew boys before they were thrown into the furnace. Their response to Nebuchadnezzer's threat of death for not worshiping his golden image was: "We believe our God is able to deliver us, but even if God doesn't deliver us, we will not worship your golden image."
Honestly speaking, so much of my faith has been based upon a presumed predictability regarding God's ways and God's plan for my life. So much of my faith has been tied to the happy outcome of the Hebrew boys' narrative. I've trusted God because in the face of the fiercest flames, the Hebrew boys came out alright. I've trusted God because I have wanted and needed to believe that despite the fiery trials and tribulations I face in life, I too will emerge unsourched, unscathed and untouched. So much of my faith has been focused on the deliverance of the Hebrew boys, not on the faithfulness of the Hebrew boys.
But according to the narrative, the faith of the Hebrew boys was not determined by their hope of deliverance from the fire. Their faith was rooted and grounded in an amazing submission to the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty that compelled them to hold on to their own immediate wishes and desires. Sovereignty that compelled them to hold on to their integrity despite the flames of fierce adversity. Submission to the sovereignty of God means more than trusting God for our deliverance. It means trusting in divine Providence even when it doesn't match our prescriptions and predictions.
Submission to the sovereignty of God is the true highlight of every believer"s life.
Dear God, help us to gain confidence that is beyond our comfort zones and faith that will not wither in the flames of our deepest disappointments. Amen.
Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, UCC, Stone Mountain, Georgia.
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