Bible Text
1Cor 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
Message
In this message we shall use the event in the book of Daniel chapter 3 as case study of faithfulness to God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego where colleagues of Daniel, they refused to defile themselves with the tainted royal food and wine, and now their commitment was again to be challenged. Perhaps this tells us that one spiritual victory is not the end: in fact each day sees us at the foot of a different mountain to climb. Every day we are subject to being tempted to deny the Lord whom we love and serve. We can find help and encouragement as we focus our attention upon these brave men who honoured the Lord in their time of fierce testing. The circumstances were that the proud king Nebuchadnezzar had set up a golden image. It was a huge monument, 90 feet high and 9 feet .Everyone must conform.Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down. They refused to renounce God and his commands. They refused to follow the crowd. They were determined to stand out against this evil thing and to be faithful to the Lord at any cost. Here was courage of the highest order, for they were prepared to face a fearful death rather than dishonour their God. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the rebels to be brought before him. He recognized them as the Jews he had recently honoured and was prepared to give them the benefit of a doubt in his mind that they had made a mistake. He assumed that it could not possibly be their deliberate intention to defy him and so he would give them a second opportunity to conform. Nebuchnezzar threw down the challenge - the gloves were off. "Who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" demanded Nebuchadnezzar. They made a classic reply, "The God we serve is able to deliver us from the fire, and will rescue us from your hand, O king" God was their God. He is theirs and they are his. They felt secured for their hope was based on a deep covenant and personal relationship. 2Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Their faith in their God is so strong that they could not imagine any ultimate harm at all coming .The faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was unquestioning,because Our God is an omnipotent God. Flames and kings meant nothing to them. He could deliver. The basis of their confidence was their trust in God..This story from the book of Daniel is an important reminder that faithfulness to God is incontestable.The three young men were in the fire, but they were not alone, for the Lord was there with them. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with amazement. He could hardly believe what he saw - he had expected their bound bodies to be incinerated within seconds. But to his astonishment, in the middle of the blazing flames men were walking up and down, unhurt by the fire and quite unaffected by their fearful surroundings.
He could hardly believe his eyes and had to seek confirmation from his ministers that it was only three men that had been cast into the fire. He looked again - "no, it wasn’t three," he said, "Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of God." One thing is perfectly clear: if God had not delivered his servants from the fire, he had delivered them in the fire. For their sake he had deliberately suspended his natural laws and had performed a miracle; there is no other word for it.The important point to remember is that the Lord was with them in their fiery trial. If God is omnipresent, he must also be the God in the midst of our burning fiery furnace, whatever form that might take. The same is our God yesterday ,today and forever. He changeth not.
God is omnipresent in pain and his presence makes faith possible. Nebuchadnezzar openly acknowledged that the three young Jews were "servants of the Most High God" and he called on them to come out of the furnace. They emerged from the fire completely unscathed : not a hair had been singed and there was not even a smell of fire on their clothes. The king and his courtiers were amazed and he passed judgement on persecutors of the three young men and the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.
Folks God that also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ is faithful,
He remains faithful to His promise and in His grace ,He keeps his covenant of love to a thousand .
Finally faithfulness to God is a readiness to trust God to fulfil his purposes whatever that might be just like Job said in the book of Job 13:15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Noah also showed faithfulness to God by believing and obeying Him and he was in charge of the new Earth after the destruction of the disobedient inhabitants .
Prayer :May we continue to be faithful to God all the days of our Lives in Jesus Name.
Source; Immanuel Foundation
