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But If Not
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18
The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is a thing of Sunday School legend. It has everything: courageous young people, a wild king, a giant fiery furnace, and, if that weren’t enough for you, an angel! I must confess that my earliest memories of this story are defined more by images from the cartoon vegetables in the “Veggie Tales” series than any deep theological reflection. As such, I’ve always thought that the miracle in this story is straightforward: God rescues the faithful. But is that it? What more is God revealing in this ancient story?
Don’t get me wrong; it is a miracle that God intervened and saved the three young men from a fiery demise. We should rest assured that the same God in whom we live, move and have our being saves people from fiery furnaces — literal and metaphorical. But God’s fingerprints in this story aren’t just in those miraculous results.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are witnesses to how God’s grace working in us can fundamentally change our hearts and perspectives away from the idol of outcomes we hope for and into the tender arms of a relationship with our Savior.
With death mere moments away, the three young men did not say, “You just wait, O King. Our God has our backs and will get us out of this! He’ll deliver us and he’ll show you!” No, instead they said: “You may throw us in this fire, and let’s be clear God is able to save us. But if not, even if that doesn’t happen, we trust Him. You look to your god and look only for the results you seek – we rest in the arms of Almighty God, and rest assured in his covenant love no matter the outcome.”
What fiery furnace are you standing before today? Test results from a recent visit to your doctor? The prospect of a new job or promotion? The hope of a phone call or text from someone you had a falling out with?
The words “but if not” are deeply countercultural and difficult, rooted in a belief that there is no outcome outside of the arms of God who is perfect love — even and especially those outcomes we fear the most or those that just don’t add up.
What “Veggie Tales” didn’t teach me was that sometimes those outcomes we want don’t happen. Worse, those things we don’t want to happen sometimes do. And yet.
God’s miraculous power in this world doesn’t just come in the form of deliverance from the fiery furnaces in our lives; it also comes through His work shaping our human hearts in covenant relationship and giving us the miraculous boldness to say, “But if not, I trust Him.”
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