16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point. 17 If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up! – Daniel 3:16-18
I’ve been thinking about courage a lot lately. And it’s so fascinating to me… because I’ve been focusing on courage so much, I’ve been feeling more and more courageous… one of my favorite teachers always says that we magnify whatever we focus on. that is why it’s so important to focus on the right things…
So I was reading about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and you know what’s so interesting? this is not just one of those stories…this actually happened to some young men…
If you don’t know the story I would encourage you to read Daniel 3. But I will give you a brief synopsis. So the king made a rule that everyone had to worship him whenever he played the “special worship instruments.” But these three young men (captives of the king) decided that they would not worship the king. See they believed in God, and they knew it was wrong to worship anyone other than God…and so when the king played his special instruments they refused to bow down, even though he gave them multiple opportunities. The king got so furious that he ordered for the young men to be thrown into a fiery furnace (imagine the romantic little fireplace you see in movies, now imagine it as big as a room and full of fire).
Not only did the king order that the young men get thrown in there, but he ensured that the fire was hotter than it usually was…but you know what happened when the young men were thrown in there? Nothing…they didn’t burn…even better:
the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed; neither were their garments scorched or changed in color or condition, nor had even the smell of smoke clung to them. – v.27b
The story is so juicy, you really have to read it for yourself…because some of the bad guys get burned up, Jesus shows up, the king regrets his decisions…etc. etc…
But anyway I wanted to focus on the courage of these young men. Because they trusted God, they did not hesitate. Can you imagine trusting God so much that you don’t even fear death? And God rewarding our courage so much that we don’t even “smell” like the circumstance we’ve experienced.
See courage is based on trust. Why do you have courage? What is the basis for your courage? You can’t have courage just for courage’s sake…you can only truly have courage because you trust that God is there for you. When we are afraid, when we are scared it’s because we don’t trust God. We don’t believe Him when He says He will take care of us…
Courage does not come from doing simple things, courage comes from doing things that seem impossible….
So yes there are more women than men in many churches and many communities. And yes there are many men out there who are irresponsible and only want to take your precious gift from you. And yes there are women out there that seem to get thing much more easily because they have such low standards…
but it takes courage to trust God. It takes courage to believe that God loves us and He will not withhold any good thing from us. It takes courage to live in a coed dorm and come out with your morals intact. it takes courage to leave a church where even some of the leaders are not doing the right thing, and still keep your love for God’s people. It takes courage to hope against all hope…and believe against all beliefs… (ahh I’m moving to Abraham now…but let’s talk about that next time)
Have courage my dear sisters…Because God has never ever ever forsaken his beloved children, and you will not be his first.