Who's Mans is this Anyway?
BIBLE STORY
In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar builds an image of gold and places it in the middle of the Babylon. He summons all governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials of Babylon to attend the official dedication of this monument. At the dedication he commands that every person of every language should bow down and worship the golden image at the sound of any and all kinds of music. He also warned that those who do not bow down to worship will be thrown into the fiery furnace.
Three Jewish boys Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down. When King Nebuchadnezzar pressed the 3 young boys, they said they wont even discuss the matter. They tell him the God they serve is able to deliver them from the fiery furnace and even if God doesn't save them, they will not bow down to the golden image. This angered King Nebuchadnezzar even more, so he ordered his officers to make the fiery furnace seven times hotter for the 3 boys to be thrown into it. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the mightiest of his men to bind up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in everything they had on (hat, cloaks, shoes) and finish the job. The bible says the fire was so hot, that the mighty soldiers died before they could reach the opening of the furnace and the 3 boys fell into the pit. When Nebuchadnezzar looked into the pit he is shocked to see four men standing in the fiery furnace, the fourth man "is like the son of the gods".
“But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
When Nebuchadnezzar called the boys out of the furnace, they came out unscathed, not a hair on their head was damaged nor did they even smell of smoke. At that moment King Nebuchadnezzar promoted the 3 boys and declared that any person of any language found speaking against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would be torn apart limb by limb.
MY TAKEAWAY
This is the kind of faith we need in our walk in God. In this day and age, there are many things that can move us to slip into worshiping the wrong things. We may not be bowing down to any metal images, but maybe we're unconsciously worshiping other things like our phones, ideas, our jobs, maybe even people. Some of these things we worship might ask us to do things that we know go against our beliefs. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered every person of every language to bow down to his statue. Will you worship a false god because everyone else is doing it? Probably not. But you might be asked to participate in things that you know goes against the will of God. The Bible says we are living in this world, but we are not product of this world. If we are followers of God, we cant do everything the world does. There has to be a difference between us and them. We must say NO.
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down, they are separating themselves from the rest by their steadfast faith. They were so firm in their faith that they said even if God didn't deliver them from the fiery furnace, they knew they'd never serve the false god or any other god. The best part of this story is when King Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace and sees a fourth man in the fire with the 3 boys and they're all untied. This fourth man appears to be the son of the Gods. This story takes place in the Old Testament, so Jesus is not yet born but to know that the likeness of the Son of God was with the boys in the fire and protected them from the flame is yet another reminder that God is always with us. Even when the peer pressure is high, even the fiery furnace burning 7 times hotter than normal, we are shielded by out mighty God and are able to walk out of the fire unscathed from the top of your head to the soles of our feet. The world may try to pressure you to worry, fear, and believe false things. Keep your faith in God and do not doubt. He's got you!