One of the most obvious temptations we all face concerns making decision which are right in God’s eyes. It is all too easy for us to rationalise whatever pathway we choose to take. We can even do this after going through the appearance of agonising over what we ought to do. People might say: ‘I believe God would have me move to a certain place or marry a certain person or perform a certain deed.’ Yet to those who hear, it hardly seems to be the way of wisdom or faithfulness.
If our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked – as Scripture tells us (Jer.17:9) and experience verifies – how can we decide what to do in any given situation? One of the most helpful places to go to in Scripture in order to answer that question is Daniel 3. Here, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon threatens Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with death in a fiery furnace if they do not worship a golden image.
The first thing that strikes us is how decided the three men are. They tell the pagan king: ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter’ (Dan.3:16). It is not a hard and fast rule that second thoughts are dangerous, but when confronted by a clear decision between good and evil, the first step down the wrong track is to discuss it. Satan made inroads into Eve’s standing before God when he asked: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” Eve was drawn into conversation with him, and that was fatal for he was too crafty for her. There was no such failure with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – evil is not something to be contemplated and discussed.
As they faced what looked like certain death, the three men maintained faith in the certainty that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace should He choose to do so (Dan.3:17). To deny this would be to embrace unbelief. The Christian is emboldened by the fact that he or she knows that God can do all things. We are not to tempt God in a silly way (e.g. Matt.4:5-7) but we can rest in His sovereign power. Nothing will take place outside His will. He will save some by His divine power (Heb.11:29-35a) and will save others after leading them through terrible suffering (Heb.11:35b-38). The outcome was His to decide, not ours; we cannot know into what category He has placed us. In short, we can be certain of His power, but not certain of His will. We can know that part of His will which He has revealed but not that which He has concealed (Deut.29:29). On 27 July 1945 Franz Hildebrandt preached at a memorial service in England for his martyred friend, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His text was one which had become very precious to a number of the German pastors: ‘We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You’ (2 Chron.20:12b).
Finally, we see that our first obligation – and only obligation, really – is to be faithful to what God has revealed. The response of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was that even if God did not miraculously intervene to save them from the fiery furnace, they were adamant: ‘Be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up’ (Dan.3:18). In the same spirit, Charles Spurgeon cited the Puritan aphorism: ‘Your duty is to do the right: consequences are with God.’
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could not know their fate until after the event. They pressed on, in a spirit neither of fearfulness nor presumption, but of trust. The apostle Paul, however, was told specifically by a prophet that his going to Jerusalem would mean that he would suffer. The lesson that he drew from this was not the obvious one of ‘Therefore, do not go’, but that Christian duty was the crowning obligation (see Acts 21:10-14). So he went.
This is the way of the Saviour Himself. He reminded ‘that fox’, Herod Antipas, that He had power over demons – and so certainly had power over a second-rate tyrant like the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. Nevertheless, Christ declared that He must finish His course, and had to go on His way (Luke 13:32-33). It is not our task to second-guess God or to negotiate His will; it is our task to obey what He has declared to us.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes