But If Not...

There's some great stuff in the Old Testament. Here's one of my new favorite stories:

There was this evil king named Nebuchadnezzar who required all his people to worship this golden statue he had made. They were supposed to fall down and worship this golden image every time they heard music that indicated it was that time; and if they didn't do it, the punishment was burning by a fiery furnace.

But, there were certain Jews named Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego who were God-fearing and refused to obey the king's orders to worship an idol or false gods. These three good men were brought before king Nebuchadnezzar for questioning and as he was about to sentence them to be thrown into the fiery furnace, he tempted them, asking "who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?"

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, with perfect faith, declared that their God was fully capable of delivering them out of the king's hands, BUT IF NOT, they will still refuse to serve his false gods. Nebuchadnezzar was so furious that he had his guards turn the heat up even more than usual, so hot that the king's most able men were consumed by the heat when they threw the three Jews inside.

Here's where it gets so good... Nebuchadnezzar came to check up on his furnace and saw some men walking around, alive, in the furnace. He asked his guard, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?". The counsellors answered, "I see FOUR men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

An LDS songwriter named Michael Hicks told us in a youth fireside recently, in summing up the moral of this story, that when you don't bow down to the world, look who you get to walk with.

Amazing. I love it.

But what intrigues me most is the "but if not" part. I did a search and found two General Conference talks with this title and read them this weekend. Here's what I learned:

Elder Simmons talked about how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego knew they could TRUST God, even if things didn't work out quite how they had hoped. So, faith in God is total trust in Him, regardless if we understand the course or outcome of a certain trial. Elder Simmons explained, "Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him."

Both talks teach about how this life on Earth is a testing ground. Elder Simmons said, "great challenges make great [wo]men." Elder Wickman explains, "mortality was designed, in a manner of speaking, as the season of unanswered questions... humility and submissiveness are an expression of complete willingness to let the 'why' questions go unanswered for now, or perhaps even to ask 'why not?'... mortality's supreme test is to face the 'why' and then let it go, trusting humbly in the Lord's promise that 'all things must come to pass in their time.'" I've always heard of this concept of "enduring to the end", and now I think I better understand what that means. To not only survive our trials and sufferings, but to have true faith in the Lord by enduring well and realizing that even when things are tough, the Lord is still in charge and we have something to gain from the experiences. The Joseph Smith translation of Hebrews 11:40 sums it up well: "God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect."

I think it is interesting that this particular story and lesson were brought to my attention a few weeks before all this craziness came up, and I thought I understood it then. But there was more to the "but if not" part of the scripture story that I needed to understand by experience. To know first hand that the Lord is capable of miracles, but if not, I will endure a miscarriage or whatever health issues I need to endure and know He has something better in store for me later. I just have to do my part, do my best, and have true faith, the kind of faith that is trust in the Lord even when things don't turn out how I hope they will, and eventually all things will be restored to perfect order.


Scripture reference: Daniel chapter 3

"But If Not …" by Elder Dennis E. Simmons Of the Seventy (May 2004 Ensign)

"But If Not" by Elder Lance B. Wickman Of the Seventy (November 2002 Ensign)