Recently, as I was doing my Bible readings in the Book of Daniel, I got really excited as I perused the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fire. The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, had built a golden idol and set it up in the plain of Dura. All the people no matter their nation or language were instructed to fall down and worship the golden image when they heard the sound of musical instruments. However, there were three Jewish men who were in charge of the province of Babylon who refused to worship this idol even though they knew that the consequence would be to be thrown in a fiery furnace. The king was angry when he heard these men would not serve his gods or worship the golden idol, so he summoned them. He threatened to throw them into the fire and questioned which god would deliver them. But the three men were confident in their Mighty God.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18
The king burned in anger and therefore ordered them to be bound up, and while full clothed they were thrown into an “exceedingly hot” fire. The men who brought them into this blazing inferno were consumed by the flames. However, Nebuchadnezzar could not believe what he was seeing. There were four men loose in the midst of the fire walking around unhurt. The fourth man seemed like the son of the gods to him. He didn’t know that who the Son of the One True God sets free is free indeed. They walked unbound in the fire and they were not burnt. God was keeping His promise of what Isaiah had prophesied before the Babylonians conquered and brought the Jews into captivity.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. Isaiah 43:2
These Hebrew men were unscorched by ravaging flames. God had made the impossible possible once again. King Nebuchadnezzar called them out of the extremely hot fiery furnace and when they came out, the government officials and the king’s advisors surrounded them in shock because they realized that the fire although made extra hot for these men could not touch them. And the king came to realize that their God could deliver them, and he made a decree that no one could speak a word against this God.
And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Daniel 3:27-29
What a wonderful God we serve! There is no other God like Him. But why then do we compromise so much to appease the world? Why do we bow to idols of money, politics, entertainment and even self-made religion? Sometimes we don’t even realize what we are worshipping because Satan, the father of lies, has subtly deceived us into thinking all is well with what we are doing. But God is not pleased. This is why we are overwhelmed by economic storms, and we sometimes get burned by the fires ignited by our lusts, greed and misguided beliefs. We have compromised in many different ways unlike these young Jewish men who the fire had no power over because they refused to worship an idol or any other gods.
The fact is the fires and floods will come, but we can be unscathed by them when we have the Almighty God as our refuge. But when we start to compromise to please man, then we stray from the safety of the protective wings of the God who can deliver us from any snare that the fowler is trying to use to trap us. When we stay faithful to the Lord and obey His Word then we will be loose in the midst of the fire when it rages around us. We need to realize too that the world is watching us and when we come out unharmed from the predicaments of life many will come to understand who the One True God is.
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