God is Willing and Able

Have you ever faced a situation in which you absolutely needed the assistance of God? A situation where there was no hope or no way out other than divine intervention? Maybe a health issue, or a financial crisis? I have faced such situations, and let me tell you that is when doubts come from all directions. Not only do doubts come from your own mind, but also some well-meaning (and sometimes not so well-meaning) church-folk as well. And it’s interesting to notice in my discussions with people, that the majority doubt not only God’s ability to help, but especially within the church body, they doubt His willingness to do so. For many this has become a convenient excuse, saying: Oh, I know that God is able to help me, but He may not be willing!

That’s why in this study today, we will be examining the truth of scripture, that God is both perfectly able and also perfectly willing to help us. The more that we see of His love and His attentive compassion towards us, we will be able to confidently rest and freely receive the provision which He freely gives.

Let’s begin today with one of the more famous events recorded in the Bible, that of Daniel’s three friends being thrown into the furnace found in Daniel chapter 3, and let us take a look at verses 15-18:

“Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.”

Starting at verse 15, what we see here is King Nebuchadnezzar giving the three friends of Daniel an ultimatum… when you hear the music, you either bow down and worship my golden statue, or I’m going to burn you alive; and he is questioning the existence of a God who can deliver them from such a fate. Keep this fact in mind as we proceed.

In verse 16, the three men confidently declare that they are not too shy to respond plainly to the king regarding this choice he offers them. This seemingly insignificant verse of scripture actually presents an interesting thought… why were they able to be so unafraid? What was it that they knew about God and His character and reliability that enabled this stoic, unmovable, unshakable confidence? They state quite plainly that, they are not careful to answer the king regarding this… which is basically just an Old English way of saying that they have no care, no worry or no fear about answering this – even though most people would be trembling before the king to answer him at all; especially one as ruthless as Nebuchadnezzar!

Now verses 17 and 18 are where most people reading start to get tripped-up a bit, mostly because of the way these verses are translated in English. As we can see, verse 17 begins with “If it be so” which most readers will instinctively think to be referring to God at this point. We read into this the same kind of attitude that we generally have today regarding the actions and will of God… “Will He help? Well, if He does, Great! But if He doesn’t, c’est la vie! That’s life!”

However this is not the attitude being portrayed by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego at all. They did not say “If God be so”, they responded “If it be so”. What they are saying here in contemporary language is: “If that’s how it’s going to go down, well then our God will deliver us! But if you decide not to burn us in the fire, we still won’t worship your god”.

This is supported by their own words in verse 17 – they are remarkably consistent and resolute regarding their confidence in God. Look more closely at their statements in the verse:

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, so they are absolutely sure about God’s ability to deliver them from the fiery furnace. They aren’t concerned about whether the immense heat will be too much for God to handle, or about the strong men of Nebuchadnezzar’s army surrounding the place. They just knew that God had it all covered.

Now look at the second-half of what they said:

And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. So they were also completely sure of God’s willingness to deliver as well. They were never doubting God in any way, neither His ability to do it, nor His will to do it. They weren’t wondering about whether God really wanted to save them or not. They weren’t concerned whether God’s will was to actually have them burn to death in fire and be martyred for His glory. They simply knew what the will of God was.

Today, we don’t see the same kind of confidence in God’s ability and will for us. We are as shakable as a house of cards most of the time, acting as if we are nothing more than expendable chess pieces to God, when He says we are more valuable than many sparrows in Matthew 10:31, and that He is so concerned about us that even every single hair on our heads are numbered and accounted for in Luke 12:7.

A while ago we did a series of studies on the promises of God given to us through the New Covenant of Grace in Christ Jesus. How can we be confident in God’s ability and willingness to carry those promises out for us today? After all, maybe He changed His mind? Maybe He just doesn’t want to give them to us for one reason or another? It may sound ridiculous, but these kinds of thoughts and fears trouble many believers because they have not been properly taught the foundation of God’s character and His divine love for them.

So I want to show you today why you can be as confidently sure about the promises that Christ has given you today, as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were when facing the fiery furnace. Turn with me to Hebrews 6:16-18:

“For men truly swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.”

Men when they take an oath, they swear by something greater than themselves. And after having sworn an oath, the discussion is over and there is no disputing it because an oath has been taken. If someone swears that they are going to do something for you, you can confidently expect them to carry it through because they have given their word and taken an oath by something greater than themselves. If we read verse 13, we can see that God also swore an oath when making a promise to bless Abraham, and because there is no one greater than God, God went ahead and swore by Himself.

Now you might be thinking “Well, that’s all well and good for Abraham, but how does that help me?” That’s where our text comes in, look at verse 17… God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it with an oath.

Now that’s a very wordy, old-time way of saying that God wanted to show the heirs of the promise to Abraham that God’s purpose and willingness to bless remains unchanged and unchangeable, so that is why He swore an oath that has been recorded for us. The reason God swore an oath was not really for Abraham’s benefit, but for our benefit! In Christ Jesus today, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)

Verse 18 then solidifies this idea further: That by these two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation – we can have strong confidence and trust in the word of God.

When you are “fleeing for refuge”, when you need help and support. You have every promise of God to uphold you, and the Word of God to back up the claim! Jesus Christ made this kind of relationship and confidence in God possible. He opened the way for all of the goodness and mercy and power of God to flow into your life without measure!

I think we can all agree that being thrown into a fiery furnace is a big deal! That’s a serious situation! Yet Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had complete confidence in both the ability of God to deliver them, and also His willingness to do so. In Christ Jesus today, you have a double-promise of God to surely bless you and keep you and to never leave you…  Not you only needed one confirmation, but He gave you two, because He is that good and He cares about you that much that He wants you to have sure confidence and a strong consolation of the hope (which means “confident expectation) that He will do everything for you that He has promised.

All of the promises of God are “Yes and Amen” to those who are in Christ Jesus. 2^nd Corinthians 1:20, which is again a double-confirmation.

So, beloved child of God, you can rest secure knowing that all which God has promised you – every blessing, and every good, every deliverance and every security is yours in Christ Jesus. He is both able and He is willing.. rest and receive.