Remember teeter totters? I was always nervous/scared that when I was up in the air/at the top the other person would jump off and sometimes he/she would do it. I started my working career when I was 15 years old washing dishes in a country club kitchen. Over 5 summers I worked my way up to assistant chef. Most fun job I ever had. Earned enough money at $1 an hour to pay for half me college education. I’ve always had a job. Some pretty good, some not. Some more fun than others. I got fired only once, due to “right sizing” of the management team. I quit one job because the company was so unethical in its operation I couldn’t stand it. I’ve had two kinds of cancer and spinal stenosis. Lots of radiation and then back surgery. I’m not dead yet but have to be careful about too much physical activity if I want to remain upright and mobile. I’ve been pretty self sufficient over the years. Not really had to rely on anything or anybody. I know intellectually (according to the Bible) that God has promised to provide for my needs but I have never really had to take Him up on it. When the time comes, can I trust Him to do it?
Well, there’s at least one good (maybe the best) story in the Bible that deals with the subject of trust. Take a look at Daniel 3:16-18 “ Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
These three guys trusted God and it worked out OK for them. I am really convicted by: “but even if He does not……..”. I get chills when I read this. I have never been in that kind of circumstance. When I get there, will I be able to trust Him like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego?
The rest of the story…… 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 For this reason, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Certainly, O king.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. 27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.