My grandpa used to call me Hananiah, which means God is gracious.
In the Old Testament there is a story of three Jewish men: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria, also known by their Babalonyian names as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar these three men refused to bow down to a golden image of the King and as punishment were thrown into a fiery furnace to be burned alive. Imagine the King's surprise when through the flame he saw not three men walking around but four. The fourth man was described as appearing like "a son of the gods". When Nebuchadnezzar called out to them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged alone from the furnace completely unharmed, not even smelling of smoke.
I've always loved this story; men who stood up for what was right, who faced terrible death without flinching, who didn't compromise in order to save themselves, who trusted God to deliver them from the flame of adversity. These are admirable traits, attributes I deeply desire.
But when the story hit a little too close to home, when the outcome wasn't the same... I found myself afraid of death; I found myself questioning God.
My childhood home was turned quite literally into a fiery furnace, my dad captured within it. Yet his body was not spared from the tongue of the devouring flames and the smell of smoke still permeated everything within a mile of the property.
Why didn't God save him from the fire? Where was the son of God when he was burning? How can I trust that I will be delivered from adversity when it feels like I have been fed to it?
These questions haunted me, still haunt me. I long to have the faith of Hananiah, to live up to that endearment my grandpa used for me, but find myself struggling to be steadfast in the heat of loss and suffering.
There is a little known verse within the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it is part of their reply to King Nebuchadnezzar when he threatened to throw them into the fire:
“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.”
Did you catch it? In the midst of declaring that God is more than able to rescue them from the fiery furnace they say three little words: But if not.
This turn of phrase was not a sign of disbelief in God's saving power, it was not an out in case God didn't show up. It was a submission to the sovereignty, power and perfect, unknowable will of God.
Dear heart, our Lord is more than able to deliver you from the fiery furnace of your circumstance and it is good to ask him for it. Even Jesus asked for deliverance from the cross saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). And in Jesus plea we see again the acknowledgement of God's saving power and the submission to his sovereign will, we hear the words "but if not..."
So if you are currently pleading with God, if you are living in a "but if not", if you are not healed, not spared - Remember that earthly miracles are temporary and the only lasting deliverance we can be given is heavenward.
When the heat of the furnace is singeing your eyebrows its hard to have faith - trust me, I know. But from one aspiring Hananiah to another: God is gracious.