Our God Is Able

 By Cherie Greshko

I heard a message from Daniel 3 about the fiery furnace, and something stood out which I had never paid close attention to before. Several times the passage speaks of God’s ability to deliver, and that had the most profound impact on me.

SHALL deliver – v. 15

IS ABLE to deliver – v. 17

WILL deliver – v.17  

                                                                       HATH … delivered – v. 28

                                                                       CAN deliver – v. 29

That’s powerful, isn’t it?  Our God is not only ABLE TO deliver, but He SHALL and He WILL and He HAS and He CAN!! . . . again and again and again . . . despite His fickle people.  How many times did the Israelites witness that firsthand, and yet they still didn’t “get it”.  Sound familiar?  Guilty!

It’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word used for deliver is different in verse 29.  Verse 29 has the meaning of to extricate, to rescue, whereas the other word means to free.  Aren’t there many instances in our lives when we need God to EXTRICATE us out of a situation?  That word gives the connotation of abrupt removal . . . complete, absolute total deliverance.  When you have a sore tooth that needs to be pulled, what is it called? An extraction. We need that tooth to be removed in complete, absolute, total deliverance to bring us full healing.

I looked up extricate in the dictionary.  Check out this definition, and see how well it applies spiritually.

To free or release from entanglement; disengage: to extricate someone from a dangerous situation. 
Synonyms:  loose, rescue, deliver, save, recover.

Or how about this one?

To release from an entanglement or difficulty; disengage

Or this one? 

To free, as from difficulties or perplexities; to disentangle

How many times has God extricated us out of a situation?  How many times have we been recovered and saved from difficulty?

You know, I like the part about disentanglement.  To not be entangled with the affairs of this life, we need God to deliver us, to free us, to rescue us from those things that so easily entangle us.  So many times I feel that my strongholds have such a chokehold on me.  It's like that weight that so easily besets us as it says in Hebrews 12.  But that’s another lesson 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had the faith to believe that God would deliver them from the fiery trial before them, and it was counted to them for righteousness. They said even IF God did NOT deliver them; they STILL weren’t going to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image!   Though not extracted from the trial, God was with them, accomplishing His will, even in the fire.

Wow.  What would happen if we actually lived and believed in full faith that this was true?  That God is ABLE to deliver us, whether He completely extricates us out of that difficult trial we are facing, or if He walks with us through the trial?

 Hmmm . . . just a thought. 

Cherie Greshko lives at the foothills of the North Georgia mountains.  She enjoys anything that gets her outside enjoying the Great Outdoors of God's beautiful creation such as hiking, biking, and nature photography.  Cherie loves to journal, study the Word of God, sing, and have fun too while tapping into her creative gifts from the Lord in a way that brings Him glory.