Thursday, March 20
Read: Psalm 63:1-8; Daniel 3:19-30; Revelation 2:8-11
Daniel, a writer known for glorious apocalyptic imagery, presents us with a colorful illustration of the power of God to intercede on our behalf. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were characters I was all too familiar with growing up in a church where it was known that miracle working was something God did! The popularity of the fiery furnace story permeated the Christian culture that shaped me. In songs by Gospel artists and Tyler Perry’s infamous “Madea” plays, those “three Hebrew boys” were an embodiment of the phrase, “Won’t He do it?!” This story provided an assurance of rescue to those of us stuck in impossible situations, bound for the fires that nobody BUT God could subdue. This story provided our proof that the phrase “It ain’t over until God says it’s over,” was indeed true.
It’s easy to take that assurance for granted when you grow up seeing miracles taking place every day. Water that still flowed even when the bill was weeks overdue. Lights that stayed on because of kind and generous strangers behind the service counter. But as I grew older, the otherworldliness of God’s actions in the lives of my family and my community began to give way to cynicism about these fantastical Bible stories and their seeming inability to convey the deeper truths of a profoundly complex and unknowable God.
When you hear the world tell you that some things just aren’t possible, you start to lose faith in the power of incredible stories like this one. That is until you’re brought back to a place where the only way you can hope to survive is through a miracle. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego remind us that miracles are just that. They’re nonsensical, inconceivable, and timely manifestations of the power of God to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. They are the stories and scenarios that force us to admit to ourselves that we cannot anticipate everything. The moments that emphasize that we are human and God is God.
In all our attempts to be smarter, to be stronger, and to be more enlightened, miracles strip us of the illusion that all things are within our control. Miracles signal to us our need to give in to the whimsy of the story of Christ. In all its fantastical, colorful, impossibility, the story of God’s walk among us beckons us to have a little faith, a little trust, and a little hope that even in the fire God will indeed deliver us.
Prayer:
God of miracles seen and unseen, invite us into the absurd truth that nothing is impossible with you. Guide us as we change and grow, reminding us all along the way that our faith in you is our strength. Amen.
Mrs. Bria Rochelle-Stephens ’18 is Vice President for Strategic Academic Initiatives, Director of the Presidential Scholars Program, and Instructor of Religion at Huntingdon College, returning to the College after completion of a Master of Divinity at Duke Divinity School.
