READING: Daniel 3-5, 2 John, 3 John
King Nebuchadnezzar orchestrated the building of a massive statue on the plain, and he ordered the people of his empire to bow down and worship it. If they did not, the king would have them thrown into a blazing fire.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, though, refused to worship the false Babylonian gods. They ignored the king’s order—which infuriated him. He brought the Hebrews before him, ordered them again to worship his statue, and warned them one more time about the furnace. Then, he asked them a question that unknowingly set up the rest of the story: “who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” (Dan 3:15).
Well, the king was about to learn the answer to his own question.
God supernaturally protected the Hebrews in the fire, and King Nebuchadnezzar then ordered an edict quite different from his first one about worshiping the statue: “Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this” (Dan 3:29). It is quite likely that the king never chose to follow the true God as his own God, but he at least recognized His power. The God of the Hebrews is the God who can deliver from the furnace.
PRAYER: “I praise You, God, for Your protective power.”
DAILY ACTION STEP: No matter what you’re facing today, trust that God is with you. Even in the heat of the furnace.
TOMORROW’S READING: Daniel 6-8, Jude
