Recently, I have heard several people say that they asked God to put a hedge of protection around someone they loved, and He didn’t do it. It is heart-wrenching to ask God for something, knowing that He can do it, and not getting what we ask for. It is devastating on the heart and on the mind and often causes us to question what we know to be true about God. Can I really trust Him?
I am going to be brutally honest and say something that you might not want to hear. Whether or not we trust God is a choice that we make. He doesn’t have to prove Himself to me or to anyone else. He doesn’t have to give in to my demands. He doesn’t owe me an explanation. I make the choice to trust Him.
I hope you will stay with me just a little longer and let me explain. I have blatantly and boldly told God that I was struggling to trust Him. I have told Him how angry and hurt that I am over the circumstances of my life. There have been times when I have barely been able to whisper the words of the song, “I will trust in You.” I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to whisper them. But when I dug deep, deep down into my heart, I knew that God loved me. I knew that my pain brought Him pain. I knew that He knew things that I didn’t know. I knew that trusting Him was a choice that only I could make for myself.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8
Let’s look at the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you have not read their story in a while, you can find it in Daniel 3. They were being held in captivity in Babylon where the king had issued a decree that everyone must worship the image of gold whenever they heard the music or be thrown into the fiery furnace. These three brave followers of God chose not to follow the decree and were summoned by the king when he heard about their rebellion. He was furious that they had not worshiped his image of gold and boldly asked, “what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (Daniel 3:15)
The response from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is a response that we should all memorize to have on hand every day when we are faced with trials. Read what they said,
“O 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 save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 (emphasis mine)
That is quite a daring statement to make to a king who has your very life in his hands. There are three important ideas we need to pull from this passage and take to heart.
We do not need to defend ourselves
How often do we try to defend ourselves to others? If we are trusting the Lord, we do not need to defend ourselves. This was a difficult lesson that I learned while grieving our son. We had to make some tough decisions. Regardless of the decision that we made, we knew there would be people who would criticize us. My husband and I decided that we would make the best decisions that we could for our family and include our daughter when appropriate. We prayed that those who criticized us never found themselves in the same situation having to make the same difficult decisions. Maybe the decision we made would not have been right for another family; however, it was right for our family, and we did not need to defend ourselves to anyone but the Lord. If we are making decisions in an effort to please others, we are seeking approval in the wrong place. We do not need to defend ourselves to anyone other than the Lord.
Our God is able to save us
We know that God can do all things. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty, Sovereign Lord, our Creator. He created the world in six days. With a whisper, He could choose to heal or destroy anything. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we know that God is able to save us.
Do you know people who only serve God when He is acting more like a genie in a bottle than a Sovereign Lord? These three trusted the Lord with the outcome. Regardless of whether or not He saved them, they trusted Him with their lives. We can too. He might not save us from the earthly struggles. We might still have to face the debilitating illness, the heart-wrenching losses, the humiliation of mistakes we have made, or the judgment of others. What He does save us from is an eternity without Him. He saves us from eternal condemnation. Our eternal security is more important to Him than our earthly comfort.
But even if He does not
That’s a hard phrase to say. Keep in mind, these three men had been summoned by the king for disobeying a decree. Can you feel the tightness in their chests and their racing heartbeats as they walked from their homes to the place where the king waited to execute judgment on them. They did not know the outcome as they stood before him and made this statement. They only knew that they were not willing to worship a human king and that they trusted God with the outcome.
We get to choose that level of trust as well. I am praying that we can remind ourselves of the truth of who God is, give our hearts over to Him, and trust Him wholly and completely with every aspect of our lives, even when we do not understand His ways.
With Eyes on the Cross 