Facing the Tests of Faith in LIfe

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnez'zar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If it 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. ¹⁸ But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."
Daniel 3: 16-18

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was one that I learned at the youngest of ages. God delivered his servants from the fiery furnace in a miraculous manner. But, the Bible also tells us that sometimes deliverance comes in the form of death. That is what happened to John the Baptist. Sometimes God's plan brings glory to Himself though our deliverance. And, sometimes He does the same through martyrdom.

In Matthew 11 we read the John has been sitting in a dark prison during the second year of Jesus' ministry. I can picture John scratching his head and thinking to himself, "Wait a minute. I thought I was the forerunner of the Messiah?" So he sends a message to Jesus asking, "Are You the Coming One; or, do we look for another?" (Luke 7:19) From John's perspective, the Messiah was going to set up the Davidic kingdom and throw those pesky Romans out of Israel. Yet, here John sat, in the dark, in prison, waiting. Soon thereafter, Herod ordered John' s death by having his head cut off. Anyone want to volunteer to be a forerunner? And yet, every Christian who confesses that Jesus is Lord and who is born again of water and of spirit into the kingdom of God is given the job of a forerunner.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego emerged out of the flame without a trace of the fire and the smoke. They were unscathed by their experience. John was not so fortunate. Yet, ultimately they, like we, all end up in the same place. The question is not how long we live; but, how we live life while we are here. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us whether it is out of the fiery furnace or from the grave. We simply need to live life with the confidence of a faith in a God that conquers all of our trials...even the trial of death.