"But If Not...": Part 2

[Darris McNeely] The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace in Daniel 3 is one of the great stories in the Bible, an adult story about faith. You know the story, you've probably heard it for many many years but again let's take it to another level. They were thrown into the fiery furnace, they said that, but and if not, they were not going to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar idol. They knew God could deliver them. But they said, "But if He's not, if He won't, for His reasons, we will not still bow down to your idol." Well, as you know, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. And when the king went to look into what was taking place, verse 25, Daniel 3, there's an interesting statement, they were still alive. And he said, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they've been thrown in. When the king looked in, he saw a fourth person and the fourth person it says, was looked as the Son of God. They were protected. If that is theophany that we are seeing there, if that indeed was the Son of God, the one who became Jesus Christ, rescuing them, being with them, letting them know that God's presence was with them in the midst of that fiery trial, that's probably a big lesson for you and I had to take away as we look at what happened there. They did not bow down to their idol at that time.

We have idols in our lives, we don't bow down to them, God will be with us. But sometimes we do have to be tried, tested, and put through our own type of fiery trial.

The book of Peter talks about the fiery trials that test our faith. And here's the lesson, I think the big takeaway for us to learn. That, yes, we walk with God by faith, not always by sight. We don't always maybe realize that God's still right there with us even though we may not see it, we certainly won't see it and we may not feel sometimes like God is with us but He always is. And the point is just big takeaway from the story is that to walk with God, sometimes we have to go through some severe trials, health, losing a job, losing a loved one.

These are trials that really do test our faith and our confidence and that staying power to be with God, the but if not attitude that we have to have. To walk with God sometimes we have to go through a fiery trial and yet God is still with us to whatever end that trial will bring us. That's a big adult lesson for you and I to learn as we look at the story of Shadrach, Meshachand Abednego and the fiery furnace in the city of Babylon.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.