“If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!  But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up.”  Daniel 3:17-18

Whenever I read this passage I think of the people who can say with confidence that even if God doesn’t heal them of their illness they will still serve him.  I find that a testament very strong faith.  One could easily succumb to the god of “why’s,” the god of “poor me,” the god of “it’s not fair,” the god of resentment or bitterness, or the god of seeking unreasonable ways to be cured when reasonable ones aren’t working.  All of these gods leave a person spiritually sick on top of physically and/or mentally sick.

Whenever we are ill the Church teaches we are to pursue all that this world has to offer in terms of medical and psychological treatment for healing.  But in the end, we must put ourselves at the feet of God, rejoicing if we are healed and stand face to the sun if the results of treatment are poor.  The Church teaches all suffering can be used for the good and no one lacks dignity in the eyes of God, even when they struggle.

Sooner or later, we will meet our Savior face-to-face and all our questions will be answered.  Until then let’s follow Jesus who in Gethsemane begged for his cross to be taken away and when He realized it would not he did not succumb to the false gods of fear, inaction, or anger.  He said, “not my will but your will be done!”  Then, he trusted God and walked resolutely and with dignity of spirit right into the metaphorical fiery furnace…… and God transformed him.  He will also transform us.

Picture by Johathan Grob, Feb 6, 2006.  Creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.  Using this picture does not indicate the author endorses this post or this website.  Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.