The Bible tells us that it rains on the just and the unjust alike, meaning that times of trouble and trials are bound to come to everyone regardless of whether your walk with the Lord is strong, or whether you have no walk at all. Even still, believers who have a relationship with the Lord should know that when trials do come, and if God calls us to persevere through the trail instead of delivering us, he is walking right by our side through the fire. We don’t have to walk through it alone. We only need to trust him. King Nebuchadnezzar learned that lesson when he decided to throw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery furnace for not worshiping an image of gold that he’d set up. It says in Daniel chapter 3, verse 25:
“He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’”
Earlier, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego proclaimed that whether God chose to deliver them or not, they would never bow their knee to the image of gold. They recognized the sovereignty of God, desiring his will above their own, still having faith that he’d deliver them. Likewise, we should also pray in faith that God will deliver us, while at the same time knowing that he is God and may have a plan that is different than our desires. In the case of these three, God allowed them to be thrown in the fire, but he was right there with them all along. In the midst of their trial, God was not far away, he didn’t watch from a distance, he was right there with them. I believe that when we go through trials and are crying out to God, whatever he decides our fate to be, he is right there with us. Do you believe that today?
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God has the power to deliver us from any situation - even if it is a trial of our own making. When we call out to God, our job is to have faith, not only to believe that he will deliver us, but also to trust that he is God and that his ways are higher than our ways. Sometimes our prayers aren’t answered the way we’d want. Sometimes, God chooses for us to walk through the fire instead of helping us to avoid it. When that happens, don’t lose heart. God ultimately saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but not before they were thrown into the fire. When you’ve prayed and still see yourself heading for destruction, does your faith waver? I encourage you to keep your eyes on God. Whatever your fate, God is in control. Put your trust in him. Whether you are delivered, or whether you have to walk through the fire, trust that God sees what we cannot see, and that he is right there with you in the midst of it all.