READING: Daniel 3-4
Sometimes I almost laugh as I read the Bible when I already know the rest of the story. Today’s one of those days.
I read today the familiar story of the three Hebrew young men who chose not to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and instead risked being thrown into the blazing fire. Word came to the king that the Hebrews refused his order to worship him, and the king was furious. He brought the Hebrews in, challenged them again to worship the statue, and warned them: “But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire” (Dan 3:15). The warning was filled with fervor and fury.
It’s what Nebuchadnezzar asked them next, though, that almost made me laugh: “and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” The words appear to be more than just a question; instead, they were a statement concerning the powerlessness of other gods. What’s almost comical, of course, is that we know the rest of the story. There was a God who could—and would soon—rescue the Hebrews from the king’s power. As one writer put it, “Here the king asserts his own power above all gods, and we can imagine the God of Psalm 2 raising his eyebrows and emitting a slight chuckle.”* God Himself would answer the king’s question by His protecting the Hebrews in the fire.
What I need to remember today is that God still delivers from the enemy’s hand. There is no God greater than He is.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you ever forget that God can handle all?
PRAYER: “God, thank You for walking with us through the fires of life.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Daniel 5-8
* Longman, T., III. (1999). Daniel (p. 100). Zondervan Publishing House.