Daniel 3 and What It Means To Us

In light of my mom being in the hospital last week and us facing some harder faith moments right now, it's time to revisit the promises God has given us.

On December 7th, Mommy and Tony met with Dr. Kerr in Winnipeg to discuss what treatment plans we would be facing. December 7th I read my daily reading and it was Daniel 1 through 3. Then during lunch I decided to listen to a video testimony by a friend from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Romy Godding. Romy had gone through a battle with cancer and seen God heal her. In the video she shared how God used Daniel 3 to encourage her throughout her battle.

⁸ Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. ⁹ They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰ You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; ¹¹and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ¹²There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.” 

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king.¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? ¹⁵ Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good!But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliverus from your hand, O king.¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he commanded certain mighty men of valor whowere in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast theminto the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.²² Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 

²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” 

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 

²⁵ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace andspoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and comehere.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. ²⁷ And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. 

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 

I was pretty encouraged to read Daniel 3 and hear it again.  Later that day I was talking to Mommy and the doctors had given her this information:

"After both doctors did a physical exam (including another scope) Dr Kerr repeated that the case is complex because the tumor is large and in an awkward position. He explained cases like mine come before a committee at the hospital.

The committee meets weekly and my case will be discussed on December 17th. The committee consists of experts from different disciplines. At this "tumor conference" they will review all of my film, scans, scopes and test results. After discussion, they will decide together whether there will be surgery, and if so the exact nature of the surgery. They will also discuss the probability of a cure and the likelihood of preserving function (eating and speaking.) 

As Dr. Kerr had not yet seen all of the material from Thunder Bay (e.g. my MRI film) he could not say definitively if there will be even be surgery. In fact, he said… right now, it is 50/50 they will do the surgery.

If they do the surgery, it will be radical. A major concern is preserving function of the tongue, specifically eating and speaking. He said they may need to remove as much as 75% of the tongue; in which case I would have trouble eating and speaking. I would not likely be able to eat, and would receive nutrition from a tube. Speaking would be difficult. If a person knew me and I was able to use visual cues I probably could be understood. I would not be understood over the telephone. This partial restoration of function will be achieved by reconstructive surgery using tissue from my leg."

This was pretty discouraging, but I told her about my reading and that I heard the same scripture again and she realized that she read Daniel 3 in not one, but TWO different devotionals that day.  As I reflected on this some more I gained an understanding that on the day that the doctors in Winnipeg were sharing with us their plan of treatment, God showed us His plan of treatment.

I sent out an email updating family and friends about the situation and included the scripture references at the bottom of the email. Two days later I received a response from Steve, the drummer in Shachah, and he read Daniel 3 on the same day he read my email.  His email said "God is faithful even when it seems like we are about to be burned up."

So here we were, just a few weeks into this cancer treatment and cancer story and God revealed Daniel 3 to us in five different places in just a matter of days.  It is amazing how He orchestrates the timing of all these things to coincide to show His love for us.

Tomorrow I will include the second portion of this, but I have to get to bed so I can wake up in 5 hours and run six miles.