Faith in the fiery furnace

In this morning's Bible reading I read the classic story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego getting thrown into the fiery furnace after they refused to worship a false god that Nebuchadnezzar had constructed for himself. I am struck by the faith of these young men, truly in awe and wondering how I would respond in a situation like that. In our modern Western society, we may not be dealing with large golden statues anymore, but be assured, there are false gods surrounding us and demanding our worship every day. The one who puts his faith in the Lord can be certain they will face hardships in this world, the Bible is full of examples of this and Jesus himself told us as much, "‭‭I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world," (John‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭NIV‬‬).

 The question I think we need to ask ourselves is, where is our trust? Do we really trust God with the entirety of our lives, even when things in our life look different than what we imagined for ourselves? Or are we more like Job, who when his wife told him to curse God and die said back to her, "‭‭You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble,” (Job‬ ‭2:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬)? When you read Job's story, it is remarkable to see what he endured, literally tragedy after tragedy, and although Job vented his frustration and emotions at God, the Bible says he never sinned in what he said, because he still trusted in who God was despite incredible hardship. To be able to have this sort of perspective in hard times, I think it is imperative that we know God and His character, we do this by studying His word, praying, and being in community with other believers regularly. I think God has given us all these stories to give us courage and to know that we can trust Him, even when our dreams are shattered. When He has the full trust of our heart, we can endure difficult times knowing that although we feel the heat of the fiery furnace, we know that the Lord is in there with us, and He will never leave us.

"Shadrach, 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 deliver 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 ‭NIV‬‬).