Daniel 3, one of the most widely known chapters in the Bible. One we’ve all heard so many times before. One that we, at least I, slightly tune out upon hearing again. If you haven’t heard of or read Daniel 3, it’s about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The King, of Babylon at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, created an image of gold and commanded everyone to bow and worship it when they heard music. If anyone did not follow the command to bow and worship they would be thrown into a fiery furnace. The three men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were the only ones in the entire kingdom to defy the royal command. The King summoned the three men and asked why they did not obey his command. The men responded by saying they don’t need to defend themselves and if they are thrown into the furnace, God can save them. Nebuchadnezzar became so enraged by their response, he ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times hotter than normal. The three were thrown into the furnace and the King ‘leaped’ up in amazement and asked his advisors
“Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied “Certainly, your Majesty.”
The King, said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
The King then proceeded to open the furnace and call to the men inside to come out. The men came out of the fire completely unharmed. Nebuchadnezzar proceeded to issue a decree that anyone who speaks against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be killed (it’s much more gruesome in the Bible).
That is a very, very short summary of Daniel 3. I would suggest reading the entire chapter before finishing this blog, but that is totally up to you.
The part I would like to focus on is the first six words in verse eighteen. I read them on Tuesday morning (Oct 2nd) during my devotion and for some reason they stuck out and I haven’t been able to get them out of my head ever since. Verse eighteen is when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are responding to the King as to why they won’t bow to his gold image. They explain that if they are thrown into the furnace that the God they serve will deliver them from it. This is where verse eighteen comes in,
“But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
“But even if He does not,” those are the words that have echoed around in my head for the last, almost, two weeks. There is so much packed into those six simple words that it’s hard for them not to stick out. Those six simple words show how much trust these men have in God and how loving and caring they know that He is. In those words they confessed that they have given their lives to God. There is no part of their life that they are holding back from God’s love and mercy and they’re not afraid to live it out in front of others.
This past week has been full of long hot and humid days. Last Friday (Sept. 28th) was probably the most humid it has been since we arrived here. It was very fitting because that was the day that our squad went out and did what the leaders call “A Cold Cup of Water.” Our entire squad got into groups of three and went and got a bottle of water. We then all went our separate ways in our groups of three and just walked. Here’s the goal, walk and pray until you feel like God is calling you to talk to someone, or someone sticks out to your group. Then hopefully start up a conversation, talk to them, love them and then leave the bottle of water with them. There’s no agenda, nothing has to happen in order to do this, literally just make people feel seen and loved.
The group that I went with was comprised of Tikki Martinez and Ben Taylor. We went to Big C (our hoppin grocery store) and got a bottle of water. We then walked out and after about twenty feet we saw a man at a table right outside the grocery store. There was a pair of crutches by the table, the man himself was on two of the chairs. His head on one and his legs on the other. One leg was clearly disabled and not usable. As we walked by him, we all stole glances toward him but, kept walking. After taking about ten more steps, Ben stopped, turned, and said,
“Would it be as simple as someone being right in front of us?”
We all talked and discussed if we felt like God was pointing out this man to us. After a quick thirty seconds we all agreed, this was the man.
We walked up to the man and started a conversation. We learned, through very broken english, that he was from Myanmar, has never had the use of his left leg, is married and has children, has lived in Thailand most of his life, and is in the less than 1% of people in Thailand who is Christian. Ben then asked if he could pray over the man’s leg and the man responded with a “Yes.” Ben then prayed and asked how the man felt. He lifted his leg and let it fall again, unchanged. A few more words were exchanged and then Tikki prayed over his leg. The man again lifted his leg and let it fall once more, unchanged. We finished up the conversation and then walked away feeling defeated. We walked around the mall that Big C is attached to and didn’t say much between the three of us. After about ten minutes Tikki announced “I wanna buy him shoes.” The man did not have shoes on when we had talked to him so we went and purchased a pair of flip flops and walked back out to give them to him. We handed the shoes to him and exchanged a few more words and left.
We got back to our hostel to debrief with the squad about what happened with everyone’s groups. The three of us piled into the room with everyone else, and sat down without much talking. Hailey, our squad mentor, opened up with a simple “Who would like to share?” Ben began with sharing how he felt about our experience. He felt let down and disappointed in God because he knows that God could have easily healed this man but chose not to. Tikki then spoke along the same lines of disappointment and feeling let down by God. Then I spoke to how I felt about it. I shared that after seeing Both Ben and Tikki pray over this man’s leg and seeing no change that I felt it would be pointless for me to pray. Why would my prayer make any difference? What would I say that would be any different from Ben or Tikki? If God wanted to heal this man’s leg then he already would have.
It was a sobering experience. I realized that my faith for God to heal and perform miracles is close to non existent. Don’t get me wrong, I believe God does have the power to. But I don’t think he performs the same type of miracles that he did when Jesus was walking around on Earth. I’ve heard about people being healed and others watching as a wheelchair bound adult will get up and walk, watching as blind people are able to see for the first time, or as people were told they were going to die end up being healed and living a long healthy life. I have never witnessed any of these miracles firsthand and I have no problem saying I’m skeptical.
It’s been an interesting past few days trying to figure out what my exact thoughts are on this matter. I know God is all powerful and can heal but I also know that God has a purpose for everything that he does, and can choose not to heal. This is where the connection came in for me. “But even if he does not.” Those words I read almost two weeks ago were not a coincidence. It was God telling me that even though I didn’t see a man get healed, I still need to trust in God and His plan. I need to realize that even though he did not heal the man that Ben and Tikki prayed over, I need to continue to actively believe that he will perform miracles. Maybe not big ones like healing someone’s vision, healing a disability, or giving someone a long life after they were told they were going to die. But little ones that I choose to currently not see as miracles and need to open my eyes to all the wonders that He is doing right in front of me.
One of my squad mates, who helps me make these blogs readable, pointed out Matthew four to me. Specifically an excerpt from Matthew four in The Voice, a certain translation of the bible. This takes place when the Devil takes Jesus into the desert and tempts Him. The Devil tempted Jesus three times to perform miracles to make His time in the desert. The first to turn stones into bread because Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights. The second time the Devil takes Jesus to the top of the temple in Jerusalem and tells him to jump and the angels will save him. The third test was to get Jesus to bow before him, the Devil, and Jesus would get control of all the kingdoms in the world. Jesus refuses all three attempts and the Devil leaves Him. The part that was pointed out to me is related to the first time the Devil tries to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. The excerpt reads,
“The point, of course, is not that Jesus couldn’t have turned these stones to bread. A little later in the story He can make food appear when He needs to. But Jesus doesn’t work miracles out of the blue, for no reason, for show or proof or spectacle. He works them in intimate, close places; He works them to meet people’s needs and to show them the way to the Kingdom.”
This is what I leave you with. God has a purpose and plan for everything He does. He doesn’t work miracles for no reason. There is never a time when a miracle is performed to prove something or for pure show. God always performs miracles or does not perform miracles for the needs of the person calling upon Him. Ben, Tikki, and I don’t get a free pass to be disappointed in God for not answering prayers. We don’t get to have a spirit of disbelief based solely on God not answering what we asked of Him. We do get to question why He didn’t answer, but that’s all we get to do. Then we work out with ourselves and with God why the man wasn’t healed. We might never get to know why God didn’t answer, we probably won’t ever get to see what God does. We get a glimpse of the whole picture and we have to believe that God does what is best and right for His people based on that information.
This will never be enough, we will continually strive to know why God doesn’t answer our prayers. It’s in our nature as humans. We easily forget the times God was faithful and did answer our prayers. We dwell on the times when we asked and did not receive (we dwell on the negative way more than the positive). There is a whole lot of psychology behind that fact and if you would like to know please email and ask.
I have had those words constantly running through my head for the past two weeks, “But even if he does not”. I hope I remember them for a long time to come and don’t easily forget them like most things with me. (If you know me, you know I don’t remember anything). This is been one of my biggest lessons over the first month. Constantly remembering God’s plan even when it’s not seen in the ways we expect or ask for.
Thanks for making it this far if you did! It’s always nice to know there are some people who track with my crazy ramblings. Until next time,
Zach
