{"id":2424,"date":"2023-03-08T09:25:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T14:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2424"},"modified":"2023-03-08T09:25:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T14:25:21","slug":"daniel-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/08\/daniel-316\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 3:16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th<\/sup> verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0<\/em>

\u201cShadrach, Meshach and Abednego\u00a0replied to him, \u2018King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter\u2019\u201d (Daniel 3:16).
\u00a0
But<\/em> if\u00a0not<\/em>.
\u00a0
That was the cryptic three-word message that was sent to London across the English Channel in May 1940.
\u00a0
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), comprised of 215,000 soldiers, which had journeyed to the European continent months earlier to help the Allies stop the advance of Nazi Germany, was trapped.\u00a0

Along with French, Belgian, and Polish fighters, there were approximately 400,000 Allied soldiers pinned down on the beaches\u00a0near the coastal town of Dunkirk.\u00a0
\u00a0
No escape was contemplated.
\u00a0
Some 800,000 German soldiers were encamped nearby, awaiting orders to annihilate or capture the Allies.\u00a0 BEF commander Lord Gort was disconsolate.\u00a0 He wired London this colossal understatement:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI must not conceal from you that a great part of the BEF and its equipment will inevitably be lost in the best of circumstances.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
If the BEF was eliminated, England\u2019s ability to wage war would be compromised for years.\u00a0 The British government briefly imagined a conditional surrender to Germany.\u00a0\u00a0 Across the Atlantic, President Franklin Roosevelt considered how America might make a separate peace with Berlin.
\u00a0
That\u2019s when several of the Brits in Dunkirk sent the message, \u201cBut if not.\u201d\u00a0

What in the world did that mean?
\u00a0
Those who received it in London recognized it as a quotation from the Bible.\u00a0 It comes from the third chapter of the book of Daniel.\u00a0 The prophet tells the story of three Hebrew men \u2013 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego \u2013 who are condemned by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to be thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow before an image of gold that represents the king.\u00a0 \u201cWhat God will be able to rescue you from my hand?\u201d Nebuchadnezzar roars.\u00a0 But the trio is unfazed.\u00a0
\u00a0
They know that \u201cthe God we serve\u201d has the power to do whatever he wants.\u00a0 In Daniel 3:16, they have the audacity to speak calmly to the Babylonians\u2019 supreme leader:\u00a0 \u201cWe do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.\u201d\u00a0 Just be chill, your majesty.\u00a0 You\u2019re not in control here.\u00a0 God is.\u00a0 And if he wants, he can rescue us from a fiery death.
\u00a0
\u201cBut if not,\u201d they say to the king (there are those three words) \u2013 even if God decides not to intervene on their behalf \u2013 \u201cwe will still not serve you or your gods\u201d (Daniel 3:18).\u00a0

Members of the British Expeditionary Force, their backs against the sea, were announcing that even if no one came to their rescue, they were still resolved to stand strong.
\u00a0
For reasons that have never been fully understood, Adolph Hitler signed a Halt Order.\u00a0 The German Army remained motionless for three days.\u00a0 That gave the Royal Navy the time it needed to organize an evacuation.\u00a0
\u00a0
Between May 26 and June 4, the waters of the English Channel were astonishingly calm.\u00a0 Some 861 vessels \u2013 including tugs, barges, and private yachts \u2013 made repeated trips from the British coast to the trapped soldiers.\u00a0 As dramatized in Christopher Nolan’s\u00a02017 film Dunkirk<\/em>, that ragged\u00a0flotilla of boats – many of them piloted by private citizens – had to dodge\u00a0the deadly strafes of German fighters.\u00a0

In all, 338,226 Allied soldiers were rescued in what came to be known as the Miracle of Dunkirk.\u00a0
\u00a0
If God rescues us, we will be grateful.\u00a0 He can certainly do it.
\u00a0
But if not<\/em> \u2013 if God doesn\u2019t eliminate the cancer, or save the marriage, or provide the money, or ensure that a healthy baby is born \u2013 God is still God.\u00a0
\u00a0
One of life\u2019s great dramas is wrestling with whether he is still worth trusting, even when we do not understand his ways.
\u00a0
Only by holding on, even in the midst of disappointment, will we learn that truth for ourselves.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.\u00a0 \u201cShadrach, Meshach and Abednego\u00a0replied to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571],"class_list":["post-2424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-316-verses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2426,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424\/revisions\/2426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}