Even If...

If you would like to listen to this devotional, please click here

 Dear Friends,
Even if . . .
Photo by luizclas from Pexels



I grew up in a Christian home and regularly went to Sunday School as a child. I loved hearing stories from the Bible about people such as Esther, Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary and Joseph.

One story I've liked since childhood is that of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the Fiery Furnace, which can be found in Daniel 3:1-30. These three Jews living in exile refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's huge golden statue. The King punished them by having them thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to worship anyone but God. However, when they were in the furnace the King saw a fourth man walking around with them who he thought must be a god. As a result, the men were released - they were unharmed and their clothes didn't even smell of smoke. The King praised their God and acknowledged their right to worship the one true God.

I want to share with you today, why this account of these three young men has come to mean so much to me and how I draw great encouragement from it. 

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18 (NLT)

1. The confidence they have in God - they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, and they testified that God had the power to save them. They knew God's power was greater even than this powerful, earthly King.

2. Their courage in the statement that they will never serve or worship any false gods.They are willing to suffer and die for their faith.

3. Their incredible faith in the face of adversity, which enabled them to say that even if God chose not to save them they were still determined to trust and follow him.

4. God didn't remove them from this trial but he was most definitely with them in the trial. Bible scholars believe that the fourth person walking with them in the trial was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

Last, but not least, their response to their trial brought glory to God. It was evident in their words and actions that God was the one they trusted in and who had first place in their life. Because of them, God was made visible to the King and his people.

I believe God used this trial to strengthen their faith in him and bring them into a deeper relationship with himself.

God brought them through this trial and he will bring you and me through ours too. Their story reminds me of what God says in the verses from Isaiah 42:1-2: 


 The Lord created Jacob and formed Israel. Now, this is what the Lord says:

Do not be afraid, because I have reclaimed you.

I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through the sea, I am with you.
When you go through rivers, they will not sweep you away.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
and the flames will not harm you. (GW)

Every one of us will at some time or another go through testing times. I don't know what trial you may be going through right now, maybe it's parenting a rebellious teenager, problems with your health or that of a loved one, difficulties at work, a challenging relationship, or something else. The testing time for me has been living with chronic migraines and ME for more than twenty years. 

Through my trial I can say:

1. My confidence is in my God - the all-powerful, mighty one. He is more powerful and greater than any trial, difficulty or problem I will ever go through and my God is mighty to save.

2. My relationship with God gives me the courage to endure the trial. 


3. God is using this trial to strengthen and deepen my faith in him and draw me closer to himself. Yes, it's been and still is at times, a long, hard struggle but I have come to the point where I can say I know that he has the power to remove this trial from me, but even if he doesn't, I will still trust him. 


4. I know, from learning from the examples of men and women in the Bible and from my own experience that God is with me in my trial. Even if he chooses not to remove the trial, he has promised to be with me. He walks with me in the trial. Even if I do not always feel his presence I know he is there. He is not some distant, uncaring, unfeeling God who is powerless to help. He is right beside me. I do not go through this on my own.


5. My desire is to bring glory to God in the way I respond to these times of testing and difficulty. So that by the way I live, God will be more visible to those around me. And people will be led to give praise to the Almighty God.


 To Think About:
Which men and/or women from the Bible (also include people you know personally, or have heard about) encourage you to keep going even during the difficult times?

In the trial you are going through are you able to say: "Even if God doesn't ... I will still choose to keep my faith and trust in him."


What do you think might help you to get to that point?


If you're in the midst of a trial right now, ask God to reveal himself to you so that you may know with confidence you are not alone in this.


 Vicki

If what you read was of interest to you, then you may like to know that my book "Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" is available to buy from Amazon, on Kindle or in paperback. (Its content is material adapted from past blog posts.) To learn more, click on the link below:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts

Do You Know You Are God's Prized Possession?

Dear Friends, Do you know that God considers you his prized possession? Maybe you find that hard to believe. You may think that because of what you've done or what's been done to you that you are not special, that you are not worth much. You may have a negative self-image and you may compare yourself with others and believe they are so much better than you. But the truth is that you are so much more than what you think you are. How do I know that? Because that's what the Bible tells me and if I want to know the truth about God and myself I go to the Bible. It's there I learn that being prized by God means that I am treasured, valued, cherished and much loved by him. At the moment I'm reading the book of James, and rather than rush through it I'm taking my time so that I can really feed on it and digest it. It's taken me most of the week to read the first chapter, but it's been a good investment of my time. It's why today I'm writing about...
Read more

When Life Doesn't Go According To Plan

Image
Dear Friends, I guess at one point or another in your life, things did not go as you had planned, dreamed or hoped for.  I've certainly experienced that and it took a long time for me to come to terms with this. I grew up in a Christian home where I was taught how to have a personal relationship with God and how to seek his will and direction in all I did. Believing that God wanted me to be a Primary School Teacher I applied to University and with God's guidance I chose the one that was right for me.  Those four years at university were tough and more than once I wanted to give up and go home.  But believing I was where God wanted me to be, gave me the endurance I needed to keep going.  At the time my plan for my life was to become a teacher and I firmly believed that was God's plan for me too. In my prayers I asked God to direct me to the teaching post he had for me.  I never doubted that I wouldn't get a job as a teacher.  When no job was offered...
Read more

You Are The Apple of God's Eye

Image
Dear Friends,  When I was a child we would sing a song about having a great, big, wonderful God  who never leaves us and who is ready to catch us when we stumble because we are  the apple of his eye. I used to enjoy singing it and although I never fully understood what it really meant to be  the apple of God's eye, I knew it was connected to God loving me. If you are a similar age to me and grew up in church, you may be familiar with this song too. At the time I never realised that the phrase "the apple of God's eye" came from the Bible. But I was reminded of this song a few weeks ago when I read the following verse in the Bible: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8  (NIV) The idea of being the apple of God's eye has been on my mind since then, so I decided I wanted to know more about what it means to be the apple of God's eye.  Here's what I learned: The phrase "apple of the eye...
Read more

You are God's Favourite

Image
Dear Friends, I love my children and will sometimes say to them "You are my favourite son/daughter."  The response I usually get from them is a groan or rolling of the eyes and "Mu-um, I'm your only son/daughter."  I tell them, "Yes, but you're still my favourite!"  It's my way of letting them know how much I love them, how precious, how special they are to me.  For me, it's a picture of how I believe God loves each one of us.  He loves me in such a way that he says to me, "You're my favourite!"  And I believe he loves you in such a way too and says "You're my favourite!". God loves each one of us with an incredible, incomparable, unconditional love.  A love that goes beyond the ordinary.  A love that is pure and selfless.  A genuine love.  A love that is beyond our understanding.  He loves us each individually and considers us all his favourite. I love words and I love the word used to describe how Go...
Read more

The Apprentice Prayer

Image
Dear Friends, I receive devotional emails from the website "Soul Shepherding".  In one of the emails several months ago Bill Gaultiere shared  "The Apprentice Prayer". I have printed it out and placed it in my journal so I can refer back to it and pray it again.  This is the Apprentice Prayer:  Jesus, I love you! Father, I adore you! Holy Spirit, I rely on you! Lord Jesus, I seek to live as your apprentice in all that I do today. My life is your school for teaching me. I relinquish my agenda for this day and I submit myself to you and your kingdom purposes. In all situations I abandon outcomes to you, praying, “Your will, your way, your time.” Dear Father, I ask you to ordain the events of this day and use them to make me more like Jesus. I trust you, Sovereign Lord, that you won’t let anything happen to my family or me today, except that it passes through your loving hands. So no matter what problems, hards...
Read more

"God Is Taking Everything Away From Me"

Dear Friends, When I was first diagnosed with M.E (M yalgic Encephalomyelitis)  in the late 1990s I really struggled to come to terms with it. I can remember in the early years and when it was at its worst saying that God was taking everything away from me. This was truly how I felt, and the hurt and the pain from what I was losing was intense. It's a pain which actually cannot fully be put into words. Not only had I lost my health and strength, I had to give up work and I wasn't able to do the things I'd been doing at church, such as leading Sunday School and running a youth group with my husband. Jason and I had married in the Summer of 1995 and the illness meant I wasn't able to do all I wanted to do in the home or to be the kind of wife I wanted to be for Jason and I wasn't able to socialise (for me that meant not going to church and mixing with church friends). It really felt like God was taking everything away from me and like I said, it was extremely pa...
Read more

The Blessing Of Pain

Dear Friends, I’ve been thinking about pain quite a bit this past week, probably because I’m in the midst of it at the moment!   My close friends and family know that I have been to the National Migraine Clinic (NMC) in London.   Before they can treat the migraines I need to take a 12 week break from all my painkillers.   This is proving difficult as I also rely on painkillers most days to manage & tolerate the muscle pain caused by M.E.   The leg pain in particular has been almost unbearable, sitting, laying on the sofa, in bed, heat treatment, massage mat; none of these things have provided me with much relief. We all experience pain in our lives, the cause of it will be different, the intensity of it varies, but pain is still pain and it hurts!   I don’t enjoy pain and I don’t seek it out, however, God is teaching me that there is blessing in pain.   It’s my experience of this that I want to share with you today that you may be encourag...
Read more

The Teacup Story

Image
If you would like to listen to this devotional please click  here Dear Friends, The Potter's Wheel A couple of weeks back I was reminded about a story I had read a few years ago. It's called "The Teacup Story" but before I share it with you, let's go to the Bible. Jeremiah was one of God's prophets in the Old Testament. He was called by God to pass messages on to God's people. In Jeremiah 18:1-6  we read about an object lesson God gave to Jeremiah and which is still relevant for us today: God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’...
Read more

Set Your Sights on the Realities of Heaven

Image
Dear Friends, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-3 "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." (NLT) I read these verses one morning when I was in the middle of a bad spell of migraines.  The spell lasted for ten days.  Some of the days were extremely painful when I just couldn't function normally, some were more bearable and I could live with the pain and some days I woke free from the pain and hoped for a pain-free day only for the migraine to develop later in the day.  I know that some of you reading this will have experienced pain much worse than this.  You may be going through something right now which is almost unbearable.  Whatever that painful experience may...
Read more

Living The "Zoe" Life

Image
Dear Friends, Do you ever find yourself wrestling over a verse or passage of Scripture? Perhaps because it's hard to understand or grasp. Or perhaps it doesn't fit with your experience. For some months, possiby years, there has been one verse which I've wrestled with. It's this one from John 10:10b Where Jesus says, "My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." (NLT). Other translations use words such as an abundant life, life in all it's fullness, enjoy life to the full, everything they need. What is this kind of life that Jesus is talking about? Is it really possible to experience it ourselves? I want to share with you the place I'm at right now in my journey of understanding. We will never fully understand all that the Bible has to teach us and sometimes we (I) will get it wrong. You may very well disagree with how I am interpreting what I read. But if it causes any of us to go back to the Bible and ask the Holy S...
Read more