Three friends stand before the king. Accused of a capital crime, their fate appears sealed as they again make the choice to defy the king's will. However, their faith speaks of God who can deliver them from the snare the world has set. We can read the details of their story in Daniel 3. Do you or I face the deep pit of a worldly snare today? Is it impossible for one of God's children to escape this pit on his own? Every day on this planet many a brother or sister in Christ faces the walls of the pit but looks to the God of Heaven.
Yes, God may provide a padded chair attached to the lift platform of a powerful helicopter to yank His sheep straight up and out of the pit. A miracle. Is it not just as much a miracle for the ensnared one to look again at the walls and see a pathway out of the pit? Though that path may appear to be a lengthy obstacle course fraught with gravest peril, is not God's working in that way just as much a miracle? It is true that the Christian may spend valuable time looking for the quicker and easier miracle when the long way home is the path God sets before us.
I have looked for the elevator out of the pit many a time when God is pointing to the narrow and winding staircase. Which way is best for me or you is the one God has selected, and our trust must be in His way for our obedience to follow. The three friends of Daniel were quickly saved and quickly removed from the furnace. Daniel had to spend the entire night in the pit of lions. Joshua and Caleb, though they were faithful, had to tread the long 40 years in the wilderness with their unbelieving brothers. We too may have to take the long way home in something, and though we may prefer in our limited vision the 40 second lift over the 40 year journey, God's way is always the best way.
In Christ we walk the narrow way,
Bucky
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