The fiery furnace

As many of you know (and some do not), I am a high school teacher. I teach in my school's "freshman academy," which is a fairly new concept in which we sort of sequester the freshmen from the rest of the student population so as to ease their transition into high school. We work in teams and have our own administrator in our building. This administrator, Mrs. Martha Frazier, is truly a blessing to work with. She is caring and understanding, and incredibly supportive. She is also a woman of God and has prayed mightily for our family through this entire process. Day before yesterday, we were talking about Dad's rapidly deteriorating condition, and I told her of my complete confidence that our God is absolutely capable of healing my father. There has never been a doubt in my mind that if it is His will, He can do so. The complication for many pepole comes in accepting that healing may not be His will. I can, however, accept it. This doesn't mean that I have loads more faith than anyone else; it's just something that I can easily accept. I don't know why.

At any rate, after I said this, she reminded me of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel. I think most children who have grown up in church know this story, if for no other reason than the fact that there is a cute little song about it (and to this day, you can't mention those three names without the song getting stuck in my head!). But for those of you who are not familiar, I will summarize it for you. In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar creates a golden idol and commands all of his people to bow to it, lest they be thrown into a fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse. When the King hears of this, he brings them in and asks them if what he has heard is true.

v. 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty's hand. 18 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."

Here, then, is the lesson: these three men know that their God is able to deliver them. But, friends, they also realize that he may choose not to do so. And yet, their faith is whole and complete.

For those of you who are wondering how the story ends, the King is enraged and orders the furnace made seven times hotter and the men tied up and thrown in. The furnace is, in fact, so hot that the guards who throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace are killed instantly. But to King Nebuchadnezzar's immense surprise, when he looks into the furnace, he sees the three men walking around, accompanied by a fourth figure. He orders them to come out of the furnace, which they do, and when they emerge, they are not burned, nor do they even smell of smoke. Nebuchadnezzar, needless to say, is then convinced of their God's superiority.

I say all of that to say this: the end, as it appears, is very near for my father. He has had nothing to eat or drink in days, and that in and of itself will do him in if it continues. But I do know that my God is capable of healing him, instantly, if He so desires. But I know that may not be His will and I accept it. Do I like it? No. Does my heart break? Yes. But to think that I, as a mere human, could ever second-guess God's will would be hubristic in the extreme.

So for those of you out there who are having difficulty grappling with this (and we all are), please be thankful for the time we have had with Daddy and be thankful that we serve a God who is willing and able to heal, but who sometimes has other plans that we can't quite understand yet. I trust that one day we will.