Faith... in all times.

Everyone knows the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego... but in case not... a quick recap. In the book of Daniel three men are commanded to bow down to a statue made by King Nebuchadnezzar. If they refuse, they are to be thrown into a furnace to be killed. Being that they are men of faith, they refuse to bow down and are thus brought before the king to receive their punishment. Nebuchadnezzar decideds to extend some grace to the men and says that if they will bow down he will forget about their refusal and allow them to return to normal life. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer the king saying, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16b-18)
There are two things that amaze me about these few verses. First of all through all of this the three men remain extremely respectful to their authority. It didn't matter that the authority was living in sin and commanding them to sin. They simply refused the sin but remained respectful through it all. The main thing that jumps out at me from this passage, though, is their undying faith in their God. It would've been easy for them to have said that they would've kept their faith if they new for sure they would've survived. They didn't know the outcome for sure though. They had the amazing faith to say, "But even if He does not..." They didn't care what God chose to do with them. They would not fall from their faith. This just goes to show how little faith we have today. Even when things are going great for us we sometimes don't want to trust God with our situations... not to mention when things are bad. Church... Let us strengthen our faith and truly be able to say that we can "sing in the troubled times."