Thursday Spiritual Thought

While learning about faith from President George Albert Smith's teachings, we were directed to read the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in Daniel 3. They were bold and fearless when they answered the King Nebuchadnezzar "...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." But they were truly faithful when they next answered, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." True faith means believing that God is capable of a miraculous rescue, but also maintaining faith in the Lord even if He chooses not to rescue us in the way we want Him to. This is a lesson I learned the hard way earlier this year when I wasn't rescued from a heartbreaking situation no matter how much I pled. But my faith has grown as I have learned to say "but if not" in my own life, and as I have promised to follow the Savior even when He sees fit to let me feel the burn of the furnace. He blesses us in other ways, like making us strong enough to endure the heat, and in the end, I have faith that He is shaping us in the way only He knows how so that we eventually become more like Him. I'm grateful for the example of these three brave young men, and their unconditional faith that did not depend on whether things turned out their way or not.

-Jessie Heaton