Even If!

"Even if God whom we serve will not save us, know, O King, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statues which you set up." Daniel 3:18

In the Book of Daniel we encounter a King who decrees that all his people worship his god, and bow down before a 90 ft. tall golden statue. Everyone obeys except three young Jewish men by the name of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The King gets furious and ordered their presence before him. "I will have you thrown into the fiery furnace!!!" The three answer that their God can rescue them, but that, "Even if God whom we serve will not save us, know, O King, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statues which you set up."

How admirable that these young men put no conditions on obeying and loving God! Many people, even long time preachers, have stopped believing in God and obeying Him because God did not fit into a box of their own making. "I'm not going to believe in God anymore because what kind of a god allows people to suffer?" Or, "I'm not going to church anymore because the Bible is full of errors.” The excuses can go on and on.

Twenty-one years after Charles "Chuck" Templeton became an evangelist, he declared himself an agnostic and he died an agnostic. He was quite a popular evangelist, and preached with Billy Graham. Many thought that he, not Billy Graham, would become the biggest evangelical preacher in history. Towards the end of his life, he was interviewed by Lee Strobel, the writer of "The Case for the Real Jesus". When asked about Jesus, Templeton became melancholy and said, "I adore Him. I miss Him." How sad that because Templeton couldn't explain everything in the Bible to his satisfaction, he turned away from his best friend! 

Lord, may I follow and obey even during times of testing, and even when I have doubts!