Daniel 3:17-18 If it 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… These souls were under the strongest possible temptation to do that which would have been an act of utter unfaithfulness to God, and which would have cost them their own self-respect. Had they yielded to the royal threat, they would have done that for which theft never could have forgiven themselves. It would have been a deed of recreancy and of shame. It is not only for great occasions that we should be prepared. Again and again will occur to us the opportunity for courageous constancy, the temptation to "unworthy concession or to the submission that would end in shame. Where shall we find our defence? I. IN ABSOLUTE CONVICTION. "The God whom we serve is able to deliver us," said these dissenting Jews. There was no doubt about that. They remembered what Jehovah had done in the past, what deliverances He had wrought; and in answer to the king's incredulity, they replied with the absolute conviction of the Divine power to save. It is almost everything to us to have a deep sense of some great spiritual certainties. When evils hang over our head, when our prospects are threatened, when health, or liberty, or life is at stake, it is much indeed to stand upon the rook of some solid certitudes. God is near to us; He is observing us, and is awaiting our constancy with Divine interest and acceptance; He will reward fidelity with His loving favour; He will not allow the worst to happen, except it be right and well that it should happen; Christ will sympathise with us if we suffer, and go down with us into the deepest waters into which we may descend. If God be for us, we can afford to have the world against us (Matthew 10:28; Romans 8:31). It is a strong rampart in the day of assault to have some impregnable convictions such as these within our souls. II. A STRONG HOPE. "And He will deliver us out of thine hand... but if not"; in other words, we have a prevailing hope that our God will exert His power on our behalf. Their state of mind was this: they knew that God was with them, and was for them, that He was mindful of their prayer and of their trust; that was certain. They could not be sure whether He would justify their faith by a miraculous intervention on their behalf, or by imparting Divine grace to enable them to bear martyr-witness to the truth. Their strong hope was that He would thus deliver them. It is open to us to act and to feel thus. We are in serious danger of financial disaster, or of being attacked by disease, or of losing reputation, or of severe bereavement, or of grievous disappointment, or of social or professional failure. We ask for deliverance. It is not for us to prescribe to the Lord of our life how He shall interpose for us. We may say to ourselves, "God will give us our desire, but if not" — we may cherish not a presumptuous confidence, but a sustaining hope. III. AN UNWAVERING RESOLVE: "We will not serve thy gods," etc. Even if their hope of bodily deliverance was not granted, they would retire to the spiritual certainties on which they built, they would fixedly determine not to belie their convictions, not to offend their God, not to desert the truth, not to fail their fellow-countrymen and their coreligionists in the hour of trial. To the proud threat of the imperious and all-confident monarch they opposed the immovable resolution of upright souls that believed in God; their resolution was unqualified, unenfeebled by the shadow of a doubt, invincible. Let the young go forth to the conflict of life in this devout, this heroic spirit, and to them also shall come the victory and the crown. (W. Clarkson, B.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. |
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