You gotta have faith

 

One of the things that I will always remember my boss telling me early in my career when I was grousing about the incessant changes we had to adapt to constantly.  “The only ‘constant’ in this company is ‘change’.  You have to have faith that it’s in the best interest of our customers, our employees, and our shareholders that we comply with the changes.”  When I was especially adamant in my refusal to even consider a particular change, he would tell me, “The changes are going to happen with or without you—I’d prefer to have you on my team, but the choice is yours.”  Sometimes it required a large amount of faith in my boss’s assurances that everything would work out fine to finally get on board and execute the changes.  Frequently, the hardest part of making the changes was having enough faith in my boss’s vision to convey the changes to my subordinates.  Many of them were even slower than me when it came to change.  Ultimately, as my boss promised, the changes were made.  Those who refused to change went their separate ways, and those of us who had faith in the system became more successful for it.

There can be no simpler example of faith in action than the faith of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in the familiar Old Testament account (Daniel 3:14-95).  These men had real confidence in God that went beyond their deliverance from a fiery furnace.  When facing the question of whether to demonstrate fealty to an idol in order to save themselves, they weren’t moved by the apparent consequences of their decision.  Instead, they seemed indifferent as to whether God would save them from the furnace.  They understood that God was able to save them, but whether God would choose to do so would be His prerogative.  They didn’t decide to follow God because He would save them, but because of the reality of who He was.  What a demonstration of faith!  As Paul would later observe, “whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8).  I wonder what it felt like to enter that furnace untouched, and to be joined in the experience by the “fourth [man who] looks like a son of God.”

When we focus upon Nebuchadnezzar, we see a slightly different message coming out of this account.  Nebuchadnezzar asked, “Who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?”  I don’t think he expected to learn the answer.  He was surprised at the audacity of anyone who wouldn’t see him as preeminent.  His initial reaction to that challenge was blind rage.  Sometimes finding God can be quite a shock, particularly when we discover the foundation for our lives is crumbling and untrustworthy.  Sometimes we too are like Nebuchadnezzar, who was a bit of a slow learner when it came to the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego.

John’s Gospel also deals with the problems of other slow learners, who seem unable to shift their focus from the past to the present (John 8:31-42).  As a result, they’re unable to recognize the work of God who is in their midst.   May God save us from our own blindness as to the works of God, and may He open our eyes to His works that are visible in our present reality.  And may each of us recognize and accept God’s answers to our questions about who He is, responding with humility, gratitude, and openness to the future He has planned for us.