Read
“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18
Reflect
It’s hard enough to do the right thing under “normal” conditions. But what about when everything seems stacked against you?
Bob, Sam and Mike were all friends who had fallen on hard times during the Great Depression. They ended up having to live far from their homes and to work for an unreasonable boss. They were all raised to know and love God, and they did everything they could to follow Him. But their boss didn’t make it easy. In fact, at one point, he demanded that they give up their worship of God in order to keep their jobs. The rejected the demand, and the boss had them fired. Literally.
This is an over-simplification of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were indeed taken far from home during the captivity of Israel in Babylon. Originally, their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but when they were “chosen” to serve in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court, their names were changed to the Babylonian versions that we know. At one point, the king had a giant golden image of himself made and demanded that everyone worship it whenever certain music sounded.
As devout, God-fearing young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused. Incensed, Nebuchadnezzar sent for the young men and demanded again that they worship the image, lest they suffer the penalty of being thrown into a white-hot furnace. Again, they refused, and they were “fired.” We all know that they didn’t die in the furnace (which was so hot that even the soldiers that escorted them were killed by the heat). And we know that a “son of the gods” was with them in the fire, and many people (including me) believe that it was Jesus with them in the furnace.
But what has always impressed me the most about these three would-be martyrs is this statement: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Today we’ve simplified that to, “Our God can save us. Our God will save us. But even if He doesn’t, He’s still our God.”
All of us come up against fairly big odds in life. Pressure in life will come. It’s not a matter of if, but when. But we have a promise from the Lord that if we honor Him, he will honor and stand with us. It probably won’t be a literal fire. It might be the loss of a job, or cancer, or divorce, or a death in the family. The world may encourage you to turn your back on God because, after all, He’s clearly turned His back on you, right? But our call is to stand firm and say, “My God can see me through this. My God will see me through this. But even if He doesn’t see me through this, He’s still my God.” When we do that, we can be assured that, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the Son of God will stand with us as we pass through the fire of our trials.
Reflection copyright © 2022 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
