The faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego rings out in their powerful words to the king: ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
It’s easy to praise God ‘when days are gold and life is good/ When the plans we make go as they should’, but we are called to worship ‘when the sky turns dark and heartache falls/ And when a lonely painful season calls.’ (‘We Will Worship’, Kutless) We are called to worship ‘all that You are’ ‘through the best, through the worst.’ (‘We Will Worship’, Kutless) The decision to praise God no matter what and to trust Him even when things do not seem to be going our way ultimataly comes down to faith; ‘confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.’ (Heb 11:1)
Rend Collective’s song ‘Hallelujah Anyway’ talks of this ‘even if…’ faith:
“Even if my daylight never dawns,
Even if my breakthrough never comes,
Even if I’ll fight to bring You praise,
Even if my dreams fall to the ground,
Even if I’m lost, I know I’m found,
Even if my heart will somehow say,
‘Hallelujah anyway.’” (‘Hallelujah Anyway’, Rend Collective)
Kutless also show us how we can do this in their song ‘Even If’, which focuses on who God is:
‘Even if the healing doesn’t come
And life falls apart
And dreams are still undone,
You are God, You are good,
Forever faithful One,
Even if the healing,
Even if the healing doesn’t come.’ (‘Even If’, Kutless)
It is because of our knowledge of God’s character that we can praise in the darkest of times. ‘Sometimes all we have to hold onto is what we know is true of who You are.’ (‘Even If’, Kutless) Because God is unchanging, we have hope that He will sustain us and step into our fiery furnaces and deliver us from evil.