Oh! What a faith!
Daniel 3:18 “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
21 days of fasting from November 11 to Dec 1 – today 10th day!
The above words have been burning in my heart! ‘But if not’! ‘But if not’! ‘But if not’! ‘But if not’! These words resonated within me deeply! It’s burning in me, even now! Boy! How profound are those words!
The situation that the three Hebrew boys Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in, was nothing small but it was life or death: king Nebuchadnezzar was furious, they brought these men before the king, at the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, they were to fall down and worship the image ….if not, they would be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Consider the agony they were in! Yet, look at their reply: ‘we don’t have to answer you in this matter, our God is able to deliver us from the fire and you’ and something more significant comes here, ‘ but if even He does not turn up, we will not worship your gods or the image, period.’ It was no limp, namby-pamby, spineless talk but firm punch on the devil’s nose! You got to answer the devil this way! Are you hearing me?
Now, I wondered, actually we have nothing much said about these awesome Hebrew brave warriors: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel; however, they have left golden foot prints behind for us to follow. Isn’t it? When all hell is breaking loose in our life, we got to think of these words: ‘but if not, still I would not bend to you devil!’ These words reflected the unwavering, strong, determined, stanch, unbendable, steadfast faith they had in the God they serve – most important they have certainly tasted the goodness of their heavenly Dad. At the end of the day, when it is time to leave the school, the eyes of the little children would be at the door waiting for their mom or dad. I would play with them and say, ‘ your mom is not coming today’; but they would look straight in my eyes, with a smile on their lips, they would say, ‘my mom would definitely come!’ In telugu it is ‘kachithanga’, yes our God would definitely come! I guess the eyes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were on the door, on the door, on the door …..waiting for their Dad. Now, a crucial time came when they knew their Dad was not going to show up NOW, but He had other greater plans. They were able to unflinchingly roar at the king, ‘take a walk, we are not going to salute your stupid gods!’ What happened after they said that and stood firm cannot be explained in words: God showed up in the fire and walked with His friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who trusted Him 100 percent!
When we were continuously bullied, harassed, humiliated, lampooned and oppressed on all sides regarding the running of our school, ( I refrain from mentioning further details, since this devotion is on the public domain) I remember one day, I made a decision, I need not bend, keep sweet-talking but put things at the feet of the Lord. I said to an influential person, yes I said that, ”no matter what happens, I would teach these kids!” Kachithanga! Definitely! Smile so broadly from jaw to jaw that it would be a kick on the devil’s face! Cheer up!
