It is a frightening thing to find yourself in a new, strange, dangerous place, all alone. Such an experience can be not only a difficult trial, but also an opportunity for testing.
Leonard Sweet, in his book Soul Salsa tells of a tribe of Native Americans that had a very unusual ritual for training and testing young warriors. On the night of a boy’s 13th birthday, he would be blindfolded and led out of the familiar, safe surroundings of home, and family and deep into the dark, dense forest. By the time he took of his blindfold, he’d be miles away, in complete darkness, all alone. That’s how he would spend the night.
Can you imagine what that would be like? With every twig snap, with each rustle of leaves or movement of branches, he’d wonder, what danger is that next to me, lurking, watching, ready to pounce? Undoubtedly, this would be a terrifying night.
Sometimes life feels like that kind of experience. The world itself can seem such a foreign, dangerous, lonely place at times. A diagnosis, that contains the word ?cancer.’ Failure in business or the loss of a job. Burying a child. These are lonely, wilderness experiences, that can devastate us. But I have seen some people of great faith not only survive but even grow through the most harrowing of life experiences. What is it that makes the difference? What does it take to make it through the dark night, to see the dawn of a new morning?
For answers to these questions, we can look to the Bible, to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, living in Babylon so many years ago. Their experience in that place was time of testing. They were living in exile, far from home, in a very strange and threatening world.
The difficulty came from their understanding of their place in the wider world. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were Jewish. And the Jewish people were defined by their separateness—separate foods, separate cus—toms, separate religious rituals. As the servants of a holy God, they were called to be holy, set apart from the world as God’s chosen people. But now with the exile, God has thrown them into a mix of other nations, cul—tures, and customs. So being mixed in with the crushing culture of Baby—lon, was both disorienting and distressing.“
And there amidst the customs, foods, ceremonies and practices of the known worlds, the gathered cultures, they were chosen by King Nebuchad—nezzar. They were called up by the royal court from among the nobility of the Jews, and all the other nations, for special training at the king’s palace. As part of that, they’d been given a choice diet ? they were to dine on pork chops, lobster, and bludwurst—all unclean foods for them!
They got special permission to undergo a test: for ten days they would dine only on kosher vegetables. As they lived out their faithfulness to the cove—nant commands of life with God, they grew visibly stronger. And King Ne—buchadnezzar discovered that, in addition to their uncommon diet, they were men of uncommon wisdom. In short order, he recruited them into his service.
So an exile that started off quite badly soon turned around! They had re—mained faithful, and were blessed by God for it—or were they?
Soon after the promotion, Daniel 3 tells us of a call to compromise, a com—promise of the very religious faith that had served them so well. At a spe—cial ceremony, all the officials of every kind, each of the specially chosen servants of all the peoples that King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered, all those trained and given offices, were to demonstrate their allegiance to their faithfulness to Babylon, its king, and its god.
If these three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had not been so blessed, so wise, so favored of God, they would not have wound up in this predicament. Their position led them to a dangerous place before a powerful king—when the music starts, simply bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, grotesque in size and scale, made in part from the gold of the temple in Jerusalem.
They alone refused.
If only they were field laborers, shop keepers or shepherds, they’d not have been noticed —— they’d not have been at the dedication ceremony at all. Nebuchadnezzar had called this gathering for officials only. Up until that point, perhaps Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thought their new jobs were a blessing, a sign of a new era in their lives and the lives of their fel—low Jews in exile.
For a reason unknown to them, God had led them into a lonely, dark, dan—gerous place. And there they stood—literally!—refusing to bow down. What gave them such courage? Because it certainly was courageous to stay firm in their faith. The three were hauled before the angry king, ac—cused of treason and threatened with their own personal holocausts if they dared to continue in their proud, people—of—God posturing.
At the time, theirs must have seemed a strange reply to give a king, espe—cially an angry king, most especially an angry king who is threatening your life. They said basically, “Look, we are not even going to dignify your ac—cusations with a defense. You’re just completely wrong on this.“
They testify to God’s great power and majesty. They uphold God’s maj—esty, in saying that they don’t have to defend themselves before Nebu—chadnezzar on this matter. They serve a higher master.
They testify to Yahweh’s power when they say that the Lord God is able to save them from the fiery furnace. But they do not say that God certainly will save them from the flames.
They demonstrate an uncommon confidence in God —— we know he is able to save us from your hand —— but even if he does not, we still will not bow down to your God. Those 6 words in verse 18 —— “But even if he does not“ —— they are crucial for understanding the passage.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is the story of believing in God’s faithfulness, no matter the danger, no matter the darkness, no matter the trial. “But even if he does not.“ The three young men voice their deci—sion to remain faithful to God, no matter what happens. They are able to do this because they believe that God will remain faithful to them above all. God will be with them, no matter what they face. And faith in God’s con—tinuing, unconditional presence is the very backbone of a life of courage.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s confident faith in God is not depend—ent on his sparing their lives. They will be faithful to God whether he does what they are hoping or not.
Of course, Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery temper explodes and the three young men are thrown into the flames. But already before the trio is in the fur—nace, we see that Nebuchadnezzar’s solution to the problem has begun to unravel. Just in carrying out the murderous orders they’d been given, the king’s best soldiers are killed by the heat of the furnace’s flames.
There in the fire, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego find God’s salvation. And it is Nebuchadnezzar himself, the one who could foresee no way out for the three, he is the one who sees the fourth. He saw a savior in the fur—nace, walking and talking with them—a son of the gods, Nebuchadnezzar called him.
It was vindication of their faithful obedience and deep assurance of God’s presence, right before the eyes of the nations. All other governors and offi—cials crowded around them; they marveled that there could not be found on them any evidence of having been in the flames, not even a smoky smell on their clothes. Here we see the representatives of all the peoples of the world, joining together to proclaim God’s great faithfulness. Nebuchadnez—zar himself is humbled; setting his pride aside he praises and promoted the three brave young servants of God.
Now, that is what happened. But what does this mean for us? Think back to that lonely and frightened young native fellow left in the deep dark woods. Eventually of course, the morning came. And when the first shafts of dawn’s light broke into the forest, the young man would be startled to recognize the outline of a figure in the shadows. A man. A familiar man. His own father. He was there the whole night long, right next to him, his bow and arrow at the ready, prepared to meet any danger that might come. We need to know that God is ever present for us as well, even when things don’t turn out well, even when we cannot see the happy ending.
Consider how this story would have been heard in the ears of the listeners for whom it was first intended.
This was originally a message of comfort especially for exiles. They were living in a crucible. They were exiled to a foreign land. Again, this was a devastating development for a people who live in the Promised Land, who have a strong sense of consecrated, holy space, those for whom the city of Jerusalem is the city of God.
They knew things had gone desperately wrong in their world. The prophets had begun to speak of the justice of God, his coming judgment on their sin. For a time, Israel tried to ignore this word of warning.
But then the Babylonian army invaded the Promised Land, destroyed Jeru—salem and looted the temple. The leading citizens then found themselves, after a long forced march, scratching out a living in the homeland of their most bitter enemies.
Where could they find comfort, these exiles? Where could they turn to find hope for any kind of future in covenant with the God they’d previously of—fended and rejected, the only God who saves? They could find both hope and comfort here, as they listened to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
In the invasion of their country, destruction of the capital and a long march into exile, they had seen the deaths of their leaders, neighbors and family members. Each person in their private thought would be thinking, ?I might not survive this.’ They knew that God does not save everyone from the sword or the flames. Did that mean that God was no longer in control? That he was no longer their God? That he didn’t care for or love them?
You can easily imagine them sitting together in a simple house, a dark room in the early evening. There they’d listen eagerly, quietly and desper—ately to what happened to these three young men, faced with the rage of the king of Babylon.
Here in this story, each of exiled Jews heard the call to faithful obedience, even while facing their own flames. The exiled Israelites were to be obedi—ent as the three young men were, whether God intervened miraculously or not. And in the midst of their suffering, they could be assured that God was with them. Even in the flames, God was walking among them and talking to them, whispering his love.
What a difference it makes to know that God is beside us facing danger and uncertainty. I am reminded of September almost two years ago, when our son Eric started kindergarten. He had been so excited to join his older sister on the big, yellow—orange school bus. But when the bus arrived that first morning of school, he lost his nerve. He wasn’t going to get on! But eventually he made it to school. My wife Christa boarded the bus with him, sat down next to him, and rode the bus with him all the way to school. When she got there, she called to let me know where she was and what she had done for our son, and I came to pick her up. Having his mother along for the ride made all the difference to Eric on that first, scary day of school.
How much more reassuring it was for the Israelites in exile, in a strange land, knowing that God was with them. God is faithful. God had not saved them from the fires of exile, but he was present and walking there among them in it. He was purifying his people, burning away their sinful rebellion like a refiner’s fire. Even the trials they faced were to be seen as a sign of God’s own great faithfulness. They, as God’s people, would survive.
It is a message of comfort for all who wonder where God is at times of suf—fering. It’s been said that at any given time, when a preacher brings the Word of God to a congregation, he or she ought to assume that 3 of 4 peo—ple are in the midst of a significant, acute pain. The pain of disease, of fear for a loved one, of a bruised marriage, a broken relationship, guilt, shame ? the pains go on and on.
How do we sort through the struggles and hurts of life?
How can we be sure of God’s love, care, power and return?
All our stories our different. But we are pulled together by this truth: God is faithful. It is a message that needs to be heard again and again ?great is his faithfulness, in the pages of Scripture, and in our lives.
We need to know this because the real truth is that Christianity is not a comfortable religion. Oh, there are rumors of that kind of cheap glory, as when a pastor or evangelist is tempted to tell a new believer or a potential believer that if only they give their life over to Christ, God will surely bless him or her with prosperity, wealth and happiness.
We who follow Christ know it is not so. The Bible tells us that. The events of our lives tell us that. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. Being shaped into his image can often be a very painful process.
So God does not always stop suffering. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed—nego were not spared from going into the furnace. So we too do not al—ways avoid the fiery furnace of pain and trial.
But that does not mean that God has lost his power, or majesty. It does not mean that God has abandoned us. We often discover that God’s presence is most real to us in the midst of suffering. In the most difficult of circum—stances, with the eyes of faith, we see his presence.
That kind of assurance may not come in the midst of the flames. Some—times we can only proceed on faith, trusting that God’s power and majesty are still at work, behind the scenes, in a way we do not understand. When, in 1940, British troops were surrounded by Nazi armies on the French side of the English Channel, their fate seemed sealed. Their commander sent a short message to British headquarters, only 3 words, taken from Daniel 3, the King James Version: “But if not…“God is able to save us, they were saying, but if not, they would still remain faithful.
Are we able to take those words on our lips? In all circumstances, do we have complete trust in the Lord for all things, trust in his power and maj—esty, trust in his love and mercy, even if those divine attributes go, as far as we can tell, underused?
The powerful, loving God of the universe is always with us. This is comfort for all God’s people.
As a community we know that God will not let his church perish, but that it will endure until the end of time.
As individuals we can find hope in God’s word. No matter what we may face, even in death, God is there.
While God does not always save us from the furnace, he is always with us in the midst of the flames.
This is God’s promise. We see it best in Jesus Christ, who is Immanuel —— God with us. In his brief life on earth we find him suffering hunger and re—jection, and crying with the mourners at a funeral. In fact, he takes our suf—fering all the way to death by torture —— at the cross, he was emptied of all power and majesty.
But he is victorious —— and we find great comfort in his last words to the church before ascending to take up his throne —— “Surely I am with you al—ways, until the very end of the age.“
And that is comfort to take us through the darkest night and into the light of his new day.
Everett Vander Horst
Everett Vander Horst is the senior pastor at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He and his wife Christa have been married for 14 years, and have 3 children: Laura (10), Eric (7) and Jason (5). A Canadian, Everett grew up on a dairy farm in southwestern Ontario. After graduating from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1996, he and Christa moved to British Columbia where Everett was ordained as pastor in the Telkwa Christian Reformed Church. They took the call to Shawnee Park CRC in 2001. When he is not pastoring, Everett enjoys digital photography, fishing as well as building toys and furniture in his basement woodshop.
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