"What is man that Thou dost take knowledge of him? Or the son of man that Thou dost think of him?"  Psalm 144:3
Daniel 3 is the story of Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue.  Perhaps inspired by his dream and Daniel's interpretation that he was the golden head, Nebuchadnezzar builds a huge golden statue and demands that everyone bow before it and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, staying faithful to God, refuse to serve any other god or to worship the golden image.  Nebuchadnezzar has forgotten the lesson of Who God is and gets so angry at their refusal that he commands the furnace to be 7 times hotter than usual.  "What god is there who can deliver you out of my hand?" he asks the 3.  He is fixing to find out! Wrapped up in their own clothes, the three are cast into the furnace.  It is so hot that the valiant warriors who throw them in are killed by the heat.  Yet the 3 were left untouched by the heat or the flame.  In fact Nebuchadnezzar, himself, sees them walking around and another with them.  Astounded, he calls them out, knowing now that they are "servants of the Most High God"
Nebuchadnezzar praises The Lord.  " Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God" v28.  There is no other god... is the answer to the question he asked in verse 3.  "there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way"  Nebuchadnezzar is learning Who God is.
The Shepherd is speaking to me today about being willing to "yield up" my own body.   In John Piper's book 50 Reasons Why Jesus came to Die chapter 33 I read this morning that we are to make His Cross the ground for all our boasting. That we recognize that every good thing and that even every bad thing that God turns for good - was obtained for us by the cross of Christ.  Everything we enjoy, as people of Christ, is owing to His death.  His suffering absorbed  our judgement. His blood bought our forgiveness., " We are not as Christ-centered and cross-cherishing as we should be, because we do not ponder the truth that everything good, and everything bad that God turns for the good, was purchased by the sufferings of Christ."  We must know that when Christ died on the cross, we died also. When we put our trust in Him we die to the world and it dies to us. We are a new creation, and as such Christ is everything.  We are made new.  And this new self is "Christ living in me"  He is present, He is helping me, He is imparting life to me. He is strengthening me to do what He is calling me to do.  My new self is " Christ-inhabited, Christ-sustained, and Christ-strengthened" It is His work.  My part is to trust Him moment by moment.
Then in Thomas a` Kempis's book The Imitation of Christ  I came to the chapter entitled " Of the Royal Way of the Holy Cross" all about denying yourself and taking up your cross.  It may seem a hard thing but , he points out, it will be much harder to hear the sentence of eternal damnation at the judgement seat.  " In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross joy of spirit, in the cross the height of virtue, in the cross the perfecion of sanctity. There is no salvation of the soul, nor hope of everlasting life, but in the cross"  We will suffer, either pain in the body or tribulation in the soul.  We will feel at times forsaken by God.  We will be troubled by others.  We will even be wearied by ourselves.  "God will have thee learn to suffer tribulation without comfort; and that thou subject thyself wholly to Him, by tribulation become more humble." We can not escape the cross. We bear it willingly or unwillingly.  Christ suffered.  "And dost thou seek any other way than this royal way, which is the way of the holy cross? Christ's whole life was a cross and martyrdom: and dost thou seek rest and joy for thyself?"  Instead, we need to be willing to drink from His cup.  " O that thou wert worthy to suffer something for the Name of Jesus. How great glory would remain unto thyself; what joy would arise to all God's saints; how great edification also to thy neighbor!"  and again " Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more wholesome to thee in this world, than that thou suffer cheerfully for Christ"  "For our worthiness and the growth of our spiritual estate consisteth not in many sweetnesses and comforts; but rather in the patient enduring of great afflictions and tribulations."

 I must confess that I do not prefer tribulations to comfort. It is indeed a hard word, impossible without the Presence of Christ in me. But I do desire to boast only in the Cross of Christ. To be like  the 3 who yielded their bodies so as to not serve any other god, but The Most High God. To suffer instead of