I Trust You, Jesus

(Dedicated to my friend and sister in Christ, Christine who trusts in the Lord)

     Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “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

     Sometimes Christians believe that if you really believe hard enough you will receive whatever it is you are praying for God to give you.  Whether it be a new job, healing in a relationship, a new home, or even healing from an illness.  If you don’t receive these things you ask for, you must not be faithful enough.  There are verses to back this belief up,  “Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  If we believe….if we have faith and not doubt….believe and have faith in what?  Our certainty of our needs or God’s choices.
     I’d like to think that all of those prayers for protection mean something as well.  I always include those words in my prayers and I believe and trust God to do just that:  protect me.  The things that I pray for may not be the best thing for me.  I read this Psalm:  “When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.”  Are our prayers ever “unanswered”?  Or are we just not getting the answer we want?  It’s comforting to me to know that when God is silent, that is an answer too.  It could be “wait”.  It could be “no”.  He’s not ignoring me, He’s caring for me.  There are so many times I can look back in my life and see how things worked for my good and how if I had gotten what I’d been praying for, it would have been a disaster.  Proof that He takes care of me.
     Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had complete faith in God and spoke boldly to the king about what He could do for them.  I found it interesting that they told the king with complete certainty that God could deliver them from the fiery pit with little effort, they had no doubts about that.  But then they said, but “if” He doesn’t.  It’s God’s choice, not ours.  Everything that happens is according to His will and purpose and who are we to say how that should go about happening?  Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us trust, really trust…