Practical Proverbial, from Daniel, 2 June 2021 Today’s topic: Believing or Seeing?

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”  So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.  Daniel 3:26-27 (NIV).

Nebuchadnezzar is back to believing his eyes.   You’ll remember that he had previously proclaimed the divinity of God when Daniel interpreted his dream.   Now, he sees the three Jews he condemned to be burned to death walking around unharmed in the furnace:  guarded by one who was like one of the ‘sons of the gods.’  When he sees this, he announces that God is “the Most High God.”   His double-crossing advisors see it, too, seeing as well that their scheme has backfired.

The Babylonians should have watched “The Santa Clause.”   Huh?   Yep, specifically, they should have listened to Judy the Elf in that movie, the wise North Pole sprite who proclaimed, “seeing isn’t believing.   Believing is seeing.”  That’s a quote I mentioned in this blog a long time ago, but it’s worth mentioning again because it’s still so true.

Like Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t believe in God unless we have proof.   We bargain with Him not fully subscribing to His existence; we plead to convince Him to let us have it our way without really submitting.   We only marginally believe in the Lord until He does something so obvious that even we can’t disregard it.  Then, we believe.   All through it, we forget what Judy said:   seeing isn’t believing.   Believing is seeing.

Believing in the Most High God before actually seeing Him or His miracles is difficult.   We’re people who press for proof, yet with God there is no empirical proof that the world will accept.  Yet all around us are signs and obvious proofs of God’s magnificence.   The sunrise or sunset; the miracle of making it through a day alive; breath in your lungs and blood in your veins; the kindness of strangers; a trillion blades of grass, and a newborn sleeping in a crib, the historicity of Jesus:  all and more proofs of the power of life that is our God the Most High.  Most importantly, His revelation to us in His word, how He softly but strongly speaks through this miraculous book He gave.  

Nebuchadnezzar needed an angel and a miracle (his second, in fact) to testify that God is God.   You and I:   what do we need?   Chances are He has already provided it.   Will you believe with your eyes or with your heart?  See or believe?

For further reading:  Psalm 91:3-11, Isaiah 43:2, Hebrews 11:32-34, Daniel 3:28

Lord God, I believe in You no matter what.

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