In Daniel chapter three the king, Nebuchadnezzar, decides to build this towering statue that is to be worshiped by pretty much everyone in his realm. Earlier in the book, he had brought in these four Jewish boys to work for him. At the time of this worship ceremony, three of them were noted to be in attendance: Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. The ceremonial music began and everyone bowed down to the kings statue....except those three. The king was baffled, why wouldn't everyone want to fall at his command?! So, he tried again and this time he gave them an ultimatum, "But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazon fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" (Daniel 3:15, emphasis mine)
Now, given those options, what would you choose? But before you answer that, here is their response:
"O Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)
Three things we can take away from Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in their response to the king:
1. "He is able..." and "He will"-They knew the God whom they served (the LIVING God) was mighty to save them. Do we trust the same to be true in our own lives? I don't know about any of you, but I've never had my life threatened with the ultimatum of being thrown into a fiery furnace. If these three could have a firm faith in God as both rescuer and deliverer when faced with that kind of threat, then I am without excuse.
2. Their minds were on eternity- These guys knew their lives had an expiration date. They also knew the One who set it. For these men, there was no compromising. Live or die, they knew they answered to the Lord on High and NO MATTER THE THREAT only He can give live and ONLY He can take it away. They trusted and knew that if they were to die, it wouldn't be at the hands of a human king, but at the appointment of the Almighty.
3. "But even if not"- It would be easy for us to look at this phrase and say "Oh see, they don't have that much faith. They're clearly doubting that God can actually save them". It would be easy, but we would probably only be trying to justify our own lack of faith. This is not an example of doubt at all, but more proof of their faith . What these men show us in saying this is a recognition in knowing that God owes them nothing. He can choose to save them or He can choose to let them burn. And if He chooses the latter and it changes the way they perceive Him (as having less power and ability), then their witness and faith in God would be futile.
You know, I find it interesting that this is the last time we read of these men for the entire rest of the book. They do survive the fiery furnace in a miraculous way (I encourage you to read Daniel chapter three to see how), but they are never heard from again in the book. What an example they leave behind.
Lately, God's brought some challenging situations into my life and I've had to make a choice will I bow and compromise and let my faith and knowledge of who God is just disintegrate? Or will I say, "even if not"?
When everyone else chooses to bow, I want to be the one standing.
Even if not,
He is still faithful
He is still good
I WILL still serve Him.
