What does it really mean to have complete
trust in God?
Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to
defend ourselves before you in this matter, If we are thrown
into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save
us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.
But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king,
that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of
gold you have set up.”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not bow to
the king’s idol, and they were condemned to death in the
fiery furnace. In their proclamation to the king, they said that God is able to
and will deliver them from the king’s hand. That was a HUGE statement of faith.
But it is followed by what, at first glance, may appear
to be a statement of doubt. They said, “But if not…”
Saying this may appear to be “covering all bases” or “hedging their bets.”
In reality though, that is far from the truth.
If you look at their entire
statement, what they are saying is that they completely trust
God in this situation. No matter what the outcome may
be, they trust God. Their statement, as a whole, is one
of the strongest statements of faith and trust recorded in the
Bible.
Jesus had a similar experience in
the Garden. He prayed what could be termed as a
"but if not..." type prayer. When He was in
agony, He asked the Father if there was any way that this cup
could be lifted from Him. He wanted another way
out. Was that a sign of weakness? Some might say
so. But looking at the rest of His prayer, we see that
He asked and God answered...with a "no." Jesus
ended His prayer by saying, "Nevertheless, not My will be
done, but Your will be done." This was not doubt or
weakness. This was a demonstration of complete faith and
trust in God's ability to do what is right.
Sometimes when we pray, we have a
sub-conscious condition that we trust God to answer the way we
want Him to answer. Instead, we should pray and state
that, in all things, we trust God to answer the right
way. Yes, present your requests to God. But always
declare your wholehearted trust in God's ability to do what is
right, even if it does not agree with what you want.
Make sure you are not believing
God for your answers to prayer, but His!
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