But if not, He is still good

This verse in Daniel has been on my mind for awhile now.  Our community group is going through the book of Daniel.  I have always loved the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  There is so much good stuff in chapter 3 that gets better and better the more you read it.  A month or so after Callie passed away, our community group was going over chapter 3 in Daniel.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's faith was so incredibly strong. I would hope that I would have that same response when they were about to be thrown into a fiery furnace and die a horrible and miserable death.

"If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  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." Daniel 3:17-18

I love this for several reasons.  First they acknowledge that God IS ABLE to deliver them from the fiery furnace.  Of course he is able, He is God and He is sovereign.  He was completely able to save Callie that day.  No question about it, He could have saved Callie in an instant.  Then the second part of the verse states, "BUT IF NOT.."  Did they KNOW that God was going to save them from the furnace?  Did they KNOW that the hairs on their heads would not be singed, their cloaks would not be harmed, and they wouldn't even smell like smoke??  NO, they definitely did not know that.  Did they know God was able to do this?  YES!  Did they know God was going to do it?  No.

Sometimes I think we as Christians believe we have some power over God by the words we speak.  A lot of the prosperity gospel today teaches that what you speak will come true. That if we speak that our child will be saved, it will happen.  That if we speak and believe that God will perform a miracle, it will happen.  That they KNOW God will save their loved one.  And it definitely CAN happen, as God is able to, but it doesn't mean it will happen.  I've been reading the book "Holding on to Hope" by Nancy Guthrie.  I cannot recommend this book enough for those who have lost a child.  The book goes through Job and one section she writes...

"Often I see the body of Christ put so much into pursuing God for healing.  With great boldness and passion and persistence, we cry out to God, begging for physical healing.  And in these prayers, there is often a tiny P.S. added at the end where we say, "If it be your will."  But shouldn't we switch that around?  Shouldn't we cry out to God with boldness and passion and persistence in a prayer that says, "God, would you please accomplish your will?  Would you give me a willing heart to embrace your plan and your purpose?  Would you mold me into a vessel that you can use to accomplish what you have in mind?  And then, perhaps, we could add a tiny P.S. that says, "If that includes healing, we will be grateful."  Isn't real faith revealed more through pursuing God and what he wants than through pursing what we want?

I honestly haven't thought much about this until Callie died.  Since Callie's death was so sudden, we didn't really get much of a chance to really pray for her except for the few minutes in the hospital before we knew what was going on.  And we most definitely did pray for a miracle!  We cried out to the Lord to save her, to not take our baby away from us. But the Lord's will was much different than what we were praying.  And we have had to learn to submit to His sovereignty.  This was one reason why we wanted 'Thy Will' to be played at her funeral.  Thy Will be done Lord.  We so wanted our baby girl to be saved, but IF NOT, we will still praise you Lord.

Nancy Guthrie goes on to say:
"At the end of Job's story, we begin to catch a glimpse of how God used the pain in Job's life.  I think this is the same thing God wants to do with the pain you and I experience in life.  After all the crying, after all the questioning, God revealed himself as sovereign over all Creation, and Job recognized God's authority over the universe and God's authority in his life. He came to a place of submission to God's sovereignty."

"Submission to God's sovereignty means bowing the knee whether or not we understand, whether or not we have it figured it out, whether of not we agree.  In that submission, we find the strength and grace to keep going.  We even find joy in the journey."

I could probably quote the entire chapter, or really the entire book, but I'll stop there.  I have had to truly submit to God's sovereignty.  Not just say I believe in God's sovereignty, but REALLY believe it.  It hasn't been easy.  I don't understand why this happened to us.  A pain so deep that doesn't happen to most families.  It really really stinks and it's not a good thing.  What happened to Callie wasn't good....God can and will USE it for good, but it in itself isn't good.  But I have truly learned to submit to the sovereignty of God, to trust Him, and believe Him in a way I never have before.  And if NOT...HE IS STILL GOOD.