READING: Daniel 1-3
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: Sometimes, the stories we learned early in Sunday school become more than just exciting stories when we’re adults; instead, they become stories with deep truths that comfort and challenge. Today’s reading, a reading that begins the book of Daniel written by a prophet living in exile in Babylon, includes one of those stories: the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3).
All in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom had been ordered to worship the statue the king had erected, under penalty of death in the furnace if they did not. The conversation among the king and the three Hebrew boys is striking. First, the king asked them this question: “But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” (Dan. 3:15). We, of course, know the answer to the king’s question. The boys serve a God who can indeed rescue them.
It’s their faith to trust in any case, though, that is most evident in this story.
Dan. 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question. If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
They knew God could deliver them, but His ability does not always equal His willingness. Either way — even if God allowed them to die — the boys had no intention to worship the false god. As one writer has said, “Their faith in God did not rest on the belief that He would perform a miracle, but that their sovereign God could be trusted” (HCSB study notes).
These words grab my attention much more today than my teen Sunday school years because I’m much more knowledgeable about the reality of martyrdom around the world. Sometimes God does deliver, but often He does not. Should I face in my lifetime the same decision the Hebrew boys faced, I pray I will have their same level of trust in God.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You that You delivered the boys from the furnace — and You did not leave them alone in that fire. Thank You that even their clothing had no smell of fire. Thank You, too, though, for the times when You choose not to deliver. Give me faith to trust You either way.”
TOMORROW¹S READING: Daniel 4-6