16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O 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 save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
I have to say that I love movies where the hero stands up to the bad guy and wins! … Not only does he win, he wins big! In REAL life … the part the movies don’t show you … there is LOTS of training that happens before you can win … at anything. For example you don’t get to be an Olympic quality competitor until you’ve put in a TON of hours practicing and persevering … often with brutal set-backs.
In our SPIRITUAL lives, as well as our mental and physical lives, the same thing is true. And God loves us SO much that He created a way for us to succeed, to win, to conquer. He says … 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-3
Gotta say that most of the time I don’t consider it pure joy or anything like joy, but rather I beg to be delivered from it … trials that is. My granddaughter’s response recently more accurately describes my feelings regarding living through waiting or painful times. In the words of my daughter-in-law …
She had been disobedient and so I took away her new little doggie that her G-ma Jo had sent her for Valentine’s Day. I told her she could have it back at 11:15 and showed her where the hands of the clock would be at that time (in about 10 minutes) and about every minute for four minutes she asked me “Is it time yet?” and I would show her where the hands of the clock were and say no. At the end of the four minutes she looked at the clock and screwed up her angelic face and said, “Momma the clock is not workin’!” (disclaimer: time changed to match the picture ... hehe)
In her Bible study on Daniel, Beth Moore says there are three ways we can be saved in times of fiery trials:
1. We can be delivered from the fire and our faith will be built.
2. We can be delivered through the fire and our faith will be refined.
3. We can be delivered by the fire and our faith will be perfected.
Let us resolve together to persevere in our trials “so that when we have done the will of God, we will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36
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