Pastor Craig Reynolds for the second Sunday in a row built his lesson from the book of Daniel. It was a great message that helped equip believers with answers to some of the tough questions we face. 

One of the points that stood out to me the most was formed out of Daniel 3:17-18 that says:

“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. ¹⁸ 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.” 

Many people when facing a trial or sickness “name or proclaim” God’s intervention to give them health, wealth, or prosperity. They believe that because this is what they want if they repeat this prayer frequently, with enough faith, that it must be granted to them. In fact they take this to such an extreme that they believe for them to say that God would do anything else as apart of His plan is to have a lack of faith. If this is the case then we would ask the question, did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have a lack of faith when they said in verse 18 that there is the potential that God may not choose to save them from the fiery furnace? It would be ridiculous to say that three men that were facing death due to standing up for God would have a lack of faith. I believe that these men in their strong faith were saying “Even if it means death, we will not dishonor our God by honoring any other god.” 

It is important to know that being a child of God does not always translate into health and wealth. We will prosper in the sense that we will find the most fulfilling life on this earth while having an incredible eternity ahead of us. But having faith does not mean believing that God will give you earthly success. It is knowing that God is sovereign and whatever He plans is perfect. It is having comfort in knowing that God has your best interest in mind as He reveals His perfect plan of Redemption. 

Final thought. Craig also mentioned that in these times of fiery trials that Jesus is always with us. Check out verse 3:25. How cool is that?