{"id":5307,"date":"2020-02-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5307"},"modified":"2020-02-02T18:34:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T00:34:27","slug":"the-faithful-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5307","title":{"rendered":"The Faithful Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart\nsmile\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite Bible accounts is about Shadrach, Meshach, and\nAbednego. I\u2019m sure you are familiar with this story found in the third chapter\nof Daniel. Here\u2019s a little background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Babylon conquered Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar required all the brightest\nand best young men of Judah to come to Babylon (Daniel 1:3-5). After three\nyears of training, they would be given prominent positions in his court.\nShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among those chosen. The hope was that\nafter being indoctrinated in the Babylonian culture, they would embrace these\nnew habits and customs, but that\u2019s not what happened. Although they were\ndedicated servants of the king, their hearts remained loyal to God.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, King Nebuchadnezzar made a huge idol of gold and required\neveryone to bow before it when the music played (Daniel 3). Those who did not\nbow would be thrown into a fiery furnace. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego\nwould not bow down. When the king found out, he was furious and said, \u201cIf you\ndo not worship the image I\u2019ve made, you will be thrown into the midst of a\nfiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?\u201d (Daniel\n3: 15). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now here comes my favorite part\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These men basically said, \u201cOur God is able to deliver us from the\nburning fiery furnace and He will deliver us from your hand. But if not, let it\nbe known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship\nthe golden image which you have set up\u201d (Daniel 3:16-18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, they knew their God could deliver them, but if for some reason\nGod chose not to \u2013 that was okay with them. They were still going to worship\nGod. Even if God allowed them to die, it would be a form of delivery from the\nhand of Nebuchadnezzar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WOW! That\u2019s the kind of faith I want to have \u2013 the kind of faith that\ntrusts God completely even when He doesn\u2019t give me what I want, what I think I\ndeserve, or what I think I need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, you know the rest of the story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego\nwere bound. In the king\u2019s anger, he had the fire made hotter \u2013 so blazing hot\nthat the flames killed the men who tossed them into the furnace. However, when\nthe king looked in to see what was happening, there weren\u2019t just three unharmed\nmen walking around, but four (Daniel 3:25). The fourth one was the Son of God!\nNebuchadnezzar said, \u201cBlessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!\u201d\n(Daniel 3:28). You see, this was all done for God\u2019s glory, not theirs! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a joyful time that must have been! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the deal\u2026 Sometimes God delivers me from pain and suffering, and\nsometimes He doesn\u2019t. Do I still praise and worship Him? I hope so. One thing\u2019s\nfor sure, in my fiery furnace it isn\u2019t just me walking around, the Son of God\nis walking with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O God of Shadrach, Meshach, and\nAbednego! Sometimes I forget Your power and might. I forget how You delivered\nour biblical forefathers and that You can deliver me. But if You choose not to\ndeliver me or give me what I want, help me to always be faithful and trust You.\nRegardless of circumstances, let my life be lived for Your glory. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren One of my favorite Bible accounts is about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I\u2019m sure you are familiar with this story found in the third chapter of Daniel. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}