I’m certain Daniel’s three friends celebrated when God delivered them from the fiery furnace. But their testimony began before they ever came out. Before they entered the fire, they declared, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… But if not…” (Daniel 3:17–18). They knew God could deliver them, but their faith in God did not depend upon His doing so.

Daniel experienced the same thing. God eventually brought him out of the lions’ den, but first God sustained him through the night. We naturally pray for God to change our circumstances—to put out the fire, close the lions’ mouths, heal the sickness, lift the burden, and bring us out. And when He does, we should celebrate! But sometimes our greatest testimony is not that God changed our circumstances. It is that God sustained us while the circumstances remained.

And this is where faith matters. Peace does not come merely from knowing God is present. Peace grows from what we believe about the God who is present. He is good. He is faithful. He loves me. He has not abandoned me. He knows what I cannot see. Isaiah said, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

Deliverance reveals what God can do to our circumstances; endurance reveals what faith in God can do within us while the circumstances remain. Perhaps the greater testimony isn’t that God changed the circumstances, but that He sustained us when they didn’t change. The fire still burned. The lions were still there. The storm still raged. But somehow, there was peace. Sometimes the greatest miracle isn’t the storm becoming calmed—it’s the inner calm we experience when we trust God in the storm. ©

–PGR