Daily Encouragementنموونە

“But even if he does not . . . ” The speakers were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and they were answering king Nebuchadnezzar about his threat to throw them into the blazing furnace. They expressed their belief that the Lord was able to deliver them - “the God we serve is able . . . ” - but they faced the possibility that he might choose not to do so.

God is able to deliver his servants out of fiery furnaces, as he did in this case, and from many other dangerous and fearsome experiences, as he has done time and time again. But he does not always choose to do so. He rescued Peter from Herod’s prison, but he did not deliver James from Herod’s sword (Acts 12:2).

The explanation of this is twofold. First, God has not promised his servants an easy pathway. Someone has remarked that “While our Lord said, ‘I am the way,’ he never pictured it as safe for body or possessions.” Secondly, his servants serve him not primarily for the benefits they receive but because he is their Lord and God, the only true and living God. The records of the Smyrna church read like this: “Polycarp was martyred, Statius Quandratus being proconsul of Asia, and Jesus Christ being King forever.