In the book of Daniel, in the third chapter, we read about King Nebuchadnezzar who:
1. Had the most awesome name EVER in the history of humankind, EVER!
2. Was a rabid lunatic.
He set up an image of gold and then ordered everyone in his vast kingdom to bow down and worship the image or die. The bible doesnt go into detail as to what the purpose of this image was, if it was a diety associated with anything in particular, so clearly this detail isnt very important... to us. But it was helluva important to king 'Chad, because he declared that anyone who doesnt bow down to his image will be immediately thrown into a burning oven. Immediately.
The heroes of this story, however, are three Jews named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. This event occured during one of the many, many times in history where Middle Eastern nations were engaging in their favourite pasttime i.e. hating on Israel. So most of the Jews were second class citizens at the time. These three men, though, had managed to distinguish themselves profoundly with their spirit of excellence and faithfulness, and had endeared themselves to the king, even being placed in positions of authority throughout the kingdom. Naturally, haters sprung up all over the place, and they were always looking for an opportunity to smear mud on their faces.
This opportunity presented itself when king 'Chad decided to erect this image of gold. Being devout Jews and very, very faithful to their God, our three heroes decided to give the king's order the proverbial middle finger, and they continued praying to their God. You know the story, the haters rushed to the king to inform him of the rampant insubordination. Our crazy king decided to have the three men brought before him, and he ordered them to bow to the gold image immediately, or risk being thrown into the oven. This is when our heroes uttured what I believe are some of the most courageous words to ever exit a human mouth:
King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in
this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve
is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s
hand. 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
- Daniel 3:16-18
Notice how our heroes chose to not put their wellbeing first, but placed their faithfulness above all else. Notice how their faith in God's abilities never wavered. And, importantly, notice how their faithfulness to God was unconditional! They had a complete faith in God and His abilities to rescue them from the oven. However, they said even is He doesnt rescue them, they will stay faithful. Even if He doesnt show Himself in their lives, they will stay faithful. Their faith didn't depend on God displaying His power for all to see. They knew Him, they knew who they were serving, and they knew that God is much, much more than His powers and His miracles. They knew that He cannot be contained in a small box of miracles. He defines His powers, His powers do not define Him!! And because of this attitude of unconditional faith, God was compelled to come down and rescue them Himself. He did not send a legion of angel, but He came down Himself! Most bible scholars believe that the fourth man who was seen in the oven was actually Jesus Christ, and we know that Jesus is God, so God came down Himself to rescue them.
Now how many Christians have conditional faith. Visual faith and faithfulness. "God, if you dont do this for me, I will stop coming to church" or "God, if you don't do this for me, you're not the real God". Love and faithfulness based on miracles. Based on what God can do for you. Of course, this is how most people come to know God, by what He can do for them (I came 'coz there was free food in the youth group). But we need to move beyond that. We need to seek to know more of God, to the point that our faithfulness is not dependent on the material, because we know the creator of the material. Whether we are provided for physically or not, we stay faithful.
Please note that this does NOT mean just accepting whatever appalling physical condition we may be in at any given time (que Gideon and King Hezekiah). We approach His throne with confidence and remind Him of His promises of providence to us as the need arises. But regardless of all of this, we stay faithful, we dont abandon our cross, we are prepared to face a blazing furnace for what we believe in. Even when we cry out in pain, we are still faithful (que Job). This is faithfulness.
Ngiyayigoba,
Mzwandile
