No Tame God — A LifeWords Devotion

Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (THE MESSAGE)

Sad to say, some of us tend to see God as a means to an end. He is the means by which we become prosperous, or successful, or healthy. We put a coin of faith in the slot we call prayer, and out comes the jackpot we have asked for. To change the image, God is like a genie in a bottle. Treat him the right way and our wishes are granted.

This familiar story from the time of Daniel is rightly seen as God performing a miraculous deliverance. But we must not overlook one point these three men made. On the one hand, they believed God could rescue them from the flames. On the other hand, they stated that he might not. Whether he did or he didn’t save them, their devotion to him remained firm.

A far cry from the sort of mindset which gives up on God if he doesn’t come good with what we want. Or a belief that if we express some doubt about what God might do, then he turns his back on us because we lack faith. We are not being faithless if we both believe God can do the apparently impossible and yet express our ongoing trust in him if he does end up choosing not to.

Church history is full of martyrs who may well have prayed for deliverance but instead experienced a deeper and more lasting deliverance. Our own lives are punctuated by wonderful acts of deliverance and yet characterised also by wishes not granted and dreams not fulfilled. Some get healed, some do not. Some prosper, others struggle.

The point is that faith doesn’t mean believing those wishes and dreams will come true. Faith means holding on to God whatever happens. Our God is not a tame God.