But If Not

We all love a story where the hero shows up in the nick of time to rescue his beloved from danger. What if he doesn’t though? That story is usually less fun.

One danger of studying the book of Daniel is we may get the idea that God promises to rescue us from any danger. He doesn’t. For our next Lesson from Babylon, we’ll see what the book has to teach us about facing the times when he doesn’t swoop in and save the day.

Let’s return to Daniel 3, to Nebuchadnezzar, his image of gold, and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, aka “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” The king orders everyone to worship this idol, and these three decline. He’s furious, but he gives them another chance; if they worship the idol, “well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” (3:15 ESV).

Their answer is one for the ages:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “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.” (3:16-18 ESV)

Our God can save us. But even if he doesn’t, we will not disobey him. May God give us all that strength of will, for that is our next lesson from Babylon: Be determined to obey no matter the consequences.

Dale Ralph Davis, in The Message of Daniel, says this about our three heroes:

They were unsure of God’s circumstantial will (whether they escape) but were sure of God’s revealed will (‘You shall have no other gods besides me’). ... These men give us then a full-balanced picture of faith: faith knows the power of God (he is able, 17), guards the freedom of God (but if not …, 18a), and holds the truth of God (we will not serve your gods, 18b). ... Faith does not predict God’s ways; it simply holds to God’s word (in this case, Exod. 20:3); faith obeys God’s truth, it does not manipulate God’s hand; faith is not required to plot God’s course but only to obey God’s command. Faith’s finest hour may be when it can oppose Nebuchadnezzar’s three words (burning fiery furnace) with three of its own: ‘But if not.’

“But if not” is the attitude we will need to stand strong in a world that opposes everything we believe. Sometimes God saves his people from danger. Sometimes he does not. If it is “granted” to us to suffer for Christ (Phil 1:29), we have to stand firm.

That doesn’t mean we should go looking for suffering. Daniel seemed to be happy to find the lion’s mouths closed in chapter 6. We don’t have to be like Polycarp, who went to the lions saying, “Here, kitty, kitty.”* It’s OK to escape (Acts 9:25); it’s not OK to compromise.

Going to our death honestly may be easier than suffering in life, though. A few minutes of pain and it’s over, then we go to the Lord, everyone’s proud of us, we’re a hero. Living in suffering for decades is harder. We may find ourselves in a situation like Randy Alcorn, who was forced to choose between paying an abortion provider or giving up just about everything. He chose the latter. In the future, some may find faithfulness requires giving up a lucrative job or being denied the ability to do something they want, adoption for example.

Sometimes we may win (whether it’s being rescued from death or winning a court case). Sometimes we may lose. Sometimes you win some and lose some: like Peter and Paul who were both rescued several times ... until they weren’t.

When we suffer, whether it’s unto death or not, we will need to remember that God’s goodness and faithfulness are not defined by rescuing us from suffering. Sometimes his faithfulness is walking us through it.

And we know that our suffering is not in vain. Death will give way to victory through Christ. Our “labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1Cor 15:58). So, as Davis says, “we can meet ‘burning fiery furnace’ with three other words: old rugged cross.”


*I kid. He didn’t actually get fed to the wild animals. Because he wasn’t afraid of them.


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