i realize that usually my thoughts are VERY short.  however, this thought has two distinct parts.  so i think i am going to do two distinct posts.  how very DISTINCT of me.

so i was re-reading the story of shadrach, meshach, and abednego.  just so we are all on the same page…this is a bible story about three guys in the old testament who didn’t want to worship this giant statue of the king.  so they didn’t. even though there was a threat of getting tossed into a fiery furnace (are there other kinds?).

here is what i noticed as i reread.  at one point in the story, these three guys say to the king, when he is giving them their last shot to do what he wants them to do, “our God will save us.  and even if he doesn’t, we still aren’t doing it.”  (that was clearly the elizabeth translation* of the story.)  suddenly, i totally got into abednego’s shoes (i don’t think i could be a “ach” but i could DEFINITELY be abednego.  i always imagine them as identical twins with abednego as the crazy “eclectic” friend.  clearly, i am much more comfortable in that role.)  if it had been me, i would have been doubting the wisdom of this action plan.  maybe not in THAT moment, but in the ones to come.  i would have wondered as i walked toward this fire made seven times as hot like “God, is this REALLY the plan?  did you see me back there?  did you see how outspoken a supporter i have become?”  as the guards around me perished because of the heat, i think i would have started freaking out.  “ummm….God.  the angels and the bolt of lightning could come NOW.”  but there is no record of that.  the REAL abednego trusted.  (so did the “ach”s -pronounced “acts” – but i am stuck with my guy.)  he CONTINUED to be like “i am not doing it.”  isn’t that just nuttiness?

let’s just get this out there: there is no furnace, fiery or otherwise, sitting in front of me.  and yet i STILL question God’s commitment to me.  wonder if he hasn’t looked away.   lost His focus and forgotten that tiny lizbeth needs some intervention.  but this guy.  he was in fact THROWN INTO the furnace, and there is no record that he ever wondered why God didn’t go with the A plan.  the “God can save me plan”.   they didn’t waiver.

i think that’s pretty awesome.   i want to be more like this.  more like “this is the way God said it was.  that’s just the way.  full stop.”  i want to treat his promises like that.  i want to treat His truth that way.  remember when my life seems totally silly, that God promised that my steps were ordered.  full stop.  remember when i feel less than, that he has said that i was a child of the King.  full stop.   even when the fire looms, He is with me.  it will work to my good.  full stop.  that He loves me without measure.  full stop.  that loving God and people is the most important.  full stop.  that His grace is sufficient.  full stop.

*the whole tale is in daniel 3 if you would like a REAL translation.