Day 17 - A Surrendered Heart

Jan 17

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A Surrendered Heart - Lindsey Lautsbaugh

Have you ever been so confident in something that there wasn’t even a doubt in your mind that it would work out? The account in Daniel 3 of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s interactions with King Nebuchadnezzar often leaves me with this question... where does that level of confidence come from?

Even at the risk of their very lives, they stood in the face of the king and defied his decree to bow to the idol he created. Two words jump off the page to me in this passage… “even if.”

Their response to the king’s threat that they would be thrown into the fiery furnace was this: “The God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand, but even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

It’s easy to look at “even if” as a weakness, lack of confidence, or being less sure of an outcome or a result. However, in the case of these brave and confident Jewish men, I don’t think that was the case. I’m convinced that they trusted God’s plan so deeply, so fully, that even the strongest of human instincts, self-preservation, was set aside due to their confidence that no matter the end result, God’s will would be done.

How? What led them to have such legendary confidence in God?

Think of your best friend- someone that’s always been there, always shows up whether it’s all going well or all coming apart at the seams. Think of how you felt when they celebrated with you after the promotion you worked so hard for, or shared the news that you were expecting a child. Or maybe they just showed up after the diagnosis came back, cried with you, embraced you, and shared in the gut-wrenching pain of your situation.

What we experience with each other in this is a confidence built as a result of one’s faithfulness, love, commitment, and trustworthiness. It’s by experiencing this ‘history’ with someone that we build confidence in them and their unconditional love for us.

The same is true for us and our relationship with God. We look back and have an awareness of all the times He was faithful, all the times He made a way when it seemed impossible; when He took our worst mistakes and redeemed them. More and more our trust solidified. No matter what the future holds, He still has a plan for us. We trust this.

I believe this helps answer the question of where that level of confidence came from for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I believe because of their intimacy with God, the intentionality of not allowing the culture around them to defile them, standing firm and not compromising truth for comfort, and seeing God’s favor, as a result, was what gave them the confidence to say ‘even if’.

You see, in this case, ‘even if’ wasn’t an indication of their doubt that God would save them. The “even if” was a courageous, statement of full trust and confidence. The result wouldn’t change their belief that God still had a plan.

We are a result-dependent culture.

“I’ll stick with this workout/diet as long as I see results”
“I’ll stay in this marriage as long as my needs are being met”,
“This friendship just isn’t beneficial to me anymore”
“I’ll follow God’s plan for my life as long as He’s answering my prayers”

Often we bail out too early on diets, marriages, jobs, friendships, or even God’s plan for us because we aren’t satisfied with the results.

My prayer for you, and for myself is, that we wouldn’t see results as the indicator of God’s faithfulness.

That we would have a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego kind of courageous confidence. That we would say “even if” we don’t get the desired or expected result, our trust in Him and His plan for our lives remains unwavering.

When we do this, I trust He will honor each of us by showing us the specific steps we need to take to see His absolute best for our lives!