but if not...

Today I spent a lot of the day in focused prayer over a particular issue. I had a sinking sense it wouldn't go the way I hoped and it didn't. 

The reason I had that sense was because as I prayed each time I really focused my heart to pray about it the thing I heard in my spirit was the quote, "but if not, He is still good." 

It's a quote I have loved for a long time now in regards to what I wrote yesterday about having open hands and releasing things like dreams in such. Tonight however the Lord brought me (in His perfect timing) to the origin of that quote.

It comes from Daniel, from the story of king  Nebuchadnezzar building the statue of himself for the nation to bow down to. This, of course, was blatant idolatry and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were devout young followers of the Lord, could not bow.

The price for failing to bow was to be tossed into a fiery furnace. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow, they went round and round with the king for a while and eventually he got very angry, heated the fire up 7 times hotter than usual and tossed them in. The fire was so hot it KILLED the guys who tossed them in. 

You want to know what set the king off? It was that statement, "but if not, He is still good."

You see king Nebuchadnezzar had challenged our young leading men with threats of the fire. And they had said basically throw us in, our God will save us...but if not, He is still good. This was a high stakes game these young men were playing. It could very well cost them EVERYTHING and yet, they knew what whatever happens God was still God and he was still good. Even if he let them burn to death in a fire. 

Take a minute for that to sink in. 

I don't know if we often verbalized our frustrations with the Lord when life isn't going our way. I know that I rarely just call Him out and tell Him I'm frustrated with Him. I do, however become standoffish to the Lord at times and may not even realize it, because...well frankly, the fire is hot and he seems to be leaving me in there. 

What fiery furnace are you facing in your life right now? 

Are you trusting that the Lord is going to rescue you, but perhaps seeing no evidence? 

Maybe the flames seem extra hot right now and you're singed a bit. 

Is He still good?

One of my favorite statements in scripture is this...

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 

If we are faithless, he remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself. 

2 Timothy 2:11-13

He cannot stop being faithful...because He is God and He is good.

So when the fire is heated up seven times hotter than normal and it seems like the Lord is no where to be found, don't forget His faithfulness and His goodness. Don't forget His mercy and His grace. 

What jumps out to me about He story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is what the king saw when he looked in the furnace. Instead of three men, bound up, there were four walking around freely. Even in the flames God was present and granted them freedom. Yes, they could have died. Yes, they had to stay in the fire a while, but eventually, they walked freely out of the flames without even the smell of smoke on their garment. 

Every story is different. God rarely works the same way twice, BUT His character never changes. He is good. 

He cannot help but be.