Article March 24, 2014 Issue

Unlimited trust in God

Francisco Afonso

Originally written in Portuguese, this article first appeared in the February 2014 Portuguese, French, German, and Spanish editions of The Herald of Christian Science.

The Bible is full of stories of people overcoming life-threatening situations by unreservedly trusting God. In one of these stories, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be cast into a burning, fiery furnace because they refused to fall down and worship a large image of gold. These three men remained steadfast in worshiping only the one God (see Daniel 3:1–30).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound when they were thrown into the furnace. However, the king was astonished to see them walking in the midst of the fire, unbound, and completely unharmed. The king commanded that they come out of the fire, and acknowledged God’s power to save those who trust Him, and he “promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon” (Daniel 3:30).

Though people may not be literally thrown into furnaces today, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we may face distressing circumstances, which nowadays may be presented as incurable diseases, accidents, wars, and poverty. We may feel hopeless, as if our hands are tied and we’re unable to see the solutions to these problems. But, to me, this Bible story shows that, regardless of how severe a situation may appear, through prayer and trust in God we can unbind our thought from anything that tries to harm or limit us and expect good to unfold continuously in our lives.