Daniel 3: Giving Thanks to God Even Without a Harvest

Introduction

"Why do we hold this harvest thanksgiving service?" Kenji Hirano, pastor of Hiratsuka Baptist Church, opens his message with that question. Fruit has been placed before the congregation, including persimmons picked on Friday in the church garden.

Is it out of tradition? Because autumn is rich in flavors? The pastor pushes the question further: "What if we had not had a satisfying harvest this year? Would we still hold this service?" If life bore no fruit, would this service still stand?

To answer, he opens Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before the golden statue. At the center is a small phrase: "But if not." That phrase, he says, is the faith that carries the thanksgiving service.

Message outline

1. A thanksgiving service: what is it for?

Hiratsuka Church holds this service at a different time than many churches: it makes it coincide with World Food Day, on October 16.
The pastor asks the question frankly: do we give thanks out of habit, because it is the season, or for a deeper reason?
If the celebration depends on a good harvest, it collapses the day the harvest fails. So he invites the congregation to look together at what we give thanks for and what we worship.

2. Worshiping God or worshiping abundance

In the Bible, abundance is most often received as a gift from God.
But the Bible also shows people who worshiped the harvest itself. Abundance can be made into a god.
"The difference seems slight, but it is great," because it touches what we bow down before.
The question is put to each person: do you bow before God, or before abundance?

3. The golden statue, a symbol of wealth and power

Three young Jews serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Their people lost the war, and they serve the king because they have no choice. It is a life in the midst of hardship.
The king has a gigantic golden statue set up. The pastor translates it into today's measurements: about 30 meters (roughly 100 feet) high and 3 meters (about 10 feet) wide, standing on the plain, shining from afar.
This statue symbolizes the king's wealth and power. Horns, flutes and all kinds of instruments accompany the ceremony. Whoever does not bow down will be thrown into the burning fiery furnace.
All the officials obey. What people bow down to, the pastor explains, is not so much another god as wealth and power. It is the worship of money: "a way of living that bows the head to money."

4. "But if not": the answer of the three young men

Furious, the king gives them one last chance: do they really think they will be saved from the furnace?
Their answer, in verses 17 and 18, is the central statement of the message: God is able to deliver us. "But if not," we will not worship your golden statue.
They know clearly the difference between what we worship and what we do not worship. "They chose God, not wealth."
The pastor pauses here and asks himself the question: what do I usually rely on to feel secure? This story, he says, turns our eyes away from wealth and toward God.

5. Not spared the furnace, but not alone in it

Kenji Hirano confides that he, too, knows times with no visible harvest: "Even as a pastor, I sometimes feel that my efforts bear no fruit." In those moments, this phrase "but if not" encourages him.
The three men believed that God would save them, and at the same time they added: "but if not."
In one sense, they were not saved: they did not escape the ordeal. They were forced to worship, and they were thrown into the furnace.
And yet they were saved. The king saw it: he had had three men thrown in, but he sees four walking freely in the fire. The fourth is God with them.
"God did not save them from the ordeal of being thrown into the furnace. But he was with them in the furnace." He does not watch suffering from a distance: he is in the middle of it.
The pastor sees in this the image of Jesus on the cross: "God did not come to explain suffering. He came to live suffering with us. That is why there was the cross."

6. What is your furnace?

In the furnace there are no vegetables or fruit, no abundant harvest. Yet the three men had a reason to thank God.
They surely did not give thanks for the absence of trial. They gave thanks to the God who was with them in the midst of the trial.
They did not believe in a miracle, and God had not promised them the outcome they wished for. "Faith is not everything turning out the way we want." They believed that God is there at all times.
The pastor invites us to make their story our own: the illness of a loved one, the exhaustion of caring for a dependent relative that you cannot hand over to anyone, a conflict with someone, worry about the future. Many furnaces await us.
When all is well, it is easy to give thanks. But trials will come, and the harvest is not guaranteed. Will you be able, like these three men, to thank God for having been with you?

7. Giving thanks even without a harvest

On that day, the church rejoices in the harvest and gives thanks for the fruit. But what it worships is not the harvest.
"If we worshiped the harvest itself, it would be the same as bowing down before the golden statue and worshiping wealth."
There are seasons in life when you feel as if you are in the furnace. God is there too. It is toward this present God that the heart turns.
The thanksgiving service is not a celebration of a prosperous life. It is the day when we thank God for his gifts of grace and share them. That is why the church does not stop celebrating it in years of small harvest.
"But if not": for the pastor, this one phrase is the faith that sustains this service. The message ends with a minute of silent meditation and a prayer: "Even if there is no harvest, we give you thanks. We thank you for being with us."

Key takeaways

We can receive abundance as a gift from God, or make a god of it. The difference seems slight, but it decides what you bow down before.
The golden statue represents wealth and power. Refusing to worship it means choosing God over wealth.
The faith of "but if not" does not rest on the hoped-for outcome: it rests on God's presence in every circumstance.
God did not spare the three men the furnace, but he was in the fire with them. At the cross, he came to live suffering with us.
We do not thank God only when the harvest is good: we thank him because he remains present, even when there is nothing to harvest.

Personal application

What do you usually rely on to feel secure: your resources, your success, or God?
Is there a "golden statue" before which you bow without realizing it?
What is your furnace today: an illness in your family, an exhaustion you tell no one about, a conflict, a worry about the future?
In an area where your efforts seem to bear no fruit, can you say "but if not" and thank God for being with you?
Take a minute of silence, as the pastor suggested: what will you thank God for today?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

What does "but if not" mean in Daniel 3:18?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego affirm that God can deliver them, then add: even if he does not, we will not worship the golden statue. For Kenji Hirano, this faith does not rest on the hoped-for outcome: it rests on the certainty that God is with them in every circumstance.

Did God deliver the three young men from the furnace?

He did not spare them the ordeal: they were thrown into the furnace. But the king saw a fourth man walking with them in the fire. The preacher stresses that God does not watch suffering from a distance: he is in the middle of it, as the cross of Jesus shows.

Why give thanks when there is no harvest?

Because we do not worship the harvest itself. Worshiping abundance would amount to bowing down before the golden statue. Kenji Hirano reminds us that we thank God, who remains present even in the seasons of the furnace: that is why the church does not give up the thanksgiving service in years of small harvest.