“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18 NIV
Wow! How did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego get to the point where they were able to refuse the most powerful ruler in the world??? If you are unfamiliar with this story, start by reading the full account in Daniel 3.
I was going to title this post, “A Faith Worth Dying For,” but as I thought it through, I realized my focus was all wrong. I mean, let’s be honest, nobody wakes up in the morning with the hope of dying for Christ. Those who are martyred die as a result of their commitment to live for Him; they die because somewhere along the line, they pledge obedience to God and determine to serve Him faithfully no matter what the situation. Clearly, these three guys had made that commitment.
Let’s back up to the beginning of the story. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were young, their homeland was invaded by the armies of Babylon and they were among those taken into captivity and forced to serve the king of Babylon. Yet they never forgot that their first allegiance was to God and their service to Him was far more important than their service to King Nebuchadnezzar.
Before the captivity they had everything going in their favor, in fact their futures were looking very bright. Notice the characteristics of the men chosen to serve the king.
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. Daniel 1:3-4a
Talk about qualities that ensure a bright future!
And specifically of these three men it says: In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. Daniel 1:20 NIV
I try to place myself in their shoes and imagine how I would feel having been ripped away from my family and loved ones. I have to wonder if they may have felt cheated out of the future they had always dreamed of, after all, back in Israel, they were members of the royal family. Maybe they were homesick for their families, their friends, missing their old routine, the food and the familiar surroundings. Whatever they were feeling, one thing is certain, they didn’t harbor bitterness toward God! That’s easy to do when life throws you a curve ball you aren’t expecting, when one day everything looks bright and you’re on top of the world, only to come crashing down when the bottom falls out and everything changes. Your attack may not come through the Babylonian army, but we’ve all been there a time or two. The phone rings and the doctor gives you bad news. Your boss calls you into his office and hands you a pink slip. You stand by the casket of a loved one, taken home long before their time. A paralyzing accident takes away your hopes and dreams. We all know the heartache that follows. For many, it’s during these times our faith can waiver but in the case of these young men, the opposite was true.
As Christians, we have to get to the place where disappointing circumstances and painful emotions don’t sideline our commitment to live for God. If in these moments we rely on God and draw near to Him, we find He is well able to calm our hearts and restore our peace. As we share our pain with Him, our relationship grows and our spiritual resolve gains more and more strength, as was the apparent case for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Imagine for a minute the immense pressure they were under with all the music and fanfare leading up to the moment they were supposed to bow. I can see how easy it would have been to rationalize the situation so that bowing down wouldn’t have seemed so bad. Surely they could justify simply going through the motions without meaning anything by it. The thought pattern would have gone something like this: We won’t actually worship the image, we’ll just pretend to for our own personal safety. Everyone else is bowing. Surely there are other believes amidst this massive crowd. If they are okay doing it, we should be too. God will understand, after all, He knows our hearts and that’s all that really matters, right? Wrong! They realized that obedience to God is not optional and can’t be decided on a case by case basis. Jesus put it this way, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” God’s law leaves no room for idols! Bowing to the statue would have been sin. They had already committed faithfulness to God so this was a non-negotiable. Far too often we justify sin with rationalizations we have no business making.
Notice that the issue for these three young Hebrews was not whether or not God would save them from the fire. Their decision to live in obedience was not contingent upon His protection from painful circumstances. They trusted God, and firmly believed He was able to rescue them, but they determined to remain faithful even if He chose not to. We can learn a lot from their determination!
I find it interesting that after hearing their answer, Nebuchadnezzar heated the furnace up seven times hotter. Can you relate to that? Do you find that as you dig your heels in and commit to be faithful, the enemy turns up the heat in his attack against you? I know I can! Will you determine to obey God and remain faithful even when Satan stokes the fire? Are you, as they were, willing to go so far as to be bound and thrown into the furnace without compromising? If so, you will find, as did they, Jesus right there in the fire with you, standing by your side saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” At the end of the day, does anything else really matter?