And if not, God is still good

This post is a part of my series of once weekly devotionals called Faith for Thought. Bookmark the homepage for Faith for Thought here to return to it for the weekly update on Thursday!

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A Reading from Daniel 3:13-18

¹³ Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, ¹⁴ and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? ¹⁵ Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ 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 3:13-18, NIV

Devotion

In the midst of hardship, do you ever get sick of hearing that you need to just keep trusting God’s plan?

After going through infertility for so long, I began to believe that it might not be possible for me to ever get pregnant. There was a real possibility I’d be childless forever.

But whenever I ever voiced that to anyone, the response I would get would be some sort of a variation of: Stay positive! Keep trusting God! Just have faith!

The implication was that I wasn’t trusting that God would do what I wanted. I was being too negative and not believing He had a plan. I started to feel guilty that maybe I just didn’t have a strong enough faith.

That’s when I discovered the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

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When threatened with the fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were 100% convinced that God would save them — at least at first glance.

“The God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.” (v. 17, emphasis mine)

Not only is God capable of it, they said, but He will do it, too.

People tend to really admire that sort of faith today: The unwavering, certain faith that God will do for us exactly what we ask.

But if we stopped there, I think we’d be missing a crucial part of the story.

What actually makes their faith admirable is not that they knew God was able to and would save them from the fiery furnace (although that is part of it); it was the acknowledgement that even if He didn’t, they would still continue to worship Him (v. 18).

I think we often shy away from admitting that God might not answer our prayers with a “yes!” People associate that sort of statement with negativity, pessimism, and weak faith.

But the truth is: God may not give me a child, or cure you of your terminal illness, or find you a spouse….or anything else you so desperately pray for.

We know that He can do these things, yes. And we even believe that He will. But, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a strong faith admits that He may not.

And that no matter what, we will not worship anyone else.

Admitting that God’s plan may not be the same as our plan — but resolving to follow Him anyway — is the way that we truly surrender to God. We believe that God can and will answer prayer. But we also say:

But if not, God is still good.

Take Action

What are you having a hard time trusting God with right now? What is out of your control? What is your constant prayer?

Know that God can and will answer prayer.

But also remind yourself: And if not, God is still good.

Commit to serving Him, no matter the outcome of your current situation.