In my time of reading I have begun to look at the book of Daniel. So far, this book is spectacular, just in case you hadn't looked at it yet. I know that most people who have been in church have heard the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I know that I have. But upon reading their story again this morning in my devotional time, it was made new to me. As I began reading I was finishing the story before I had even gotten in to it knowing that God spares these men from the imminent death of the furnace. However, I decided to slow down and look more intently at what God was saying through their testimony.
These three men were brought before the king of the land and were facing a large challenge. They were asked to renounce their belief in their God and to worship this golden image before them. if they were to choose their God over the man made image they were surely going to face death. But what did these guys do? Without even a second thought they immediately replied to this threat from the king by saying "we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Now that statement was nothing but faith. These guys were standing in front of the most powerful person in their world and were being threatened with death. But what did they do? they stood firm in their belief, faith, and trust in the almighty God of heaven. As the story proceeds we see the three men thrown in to the fire yet are unharmed. That cannot be taken lightly knowing that the men who had thrown them in had died when exposed to the immense flames of the furnace.
I am greatly encouraged by this narrative. We walk through our days with very little if any testing of our faith before man. We are highly blessed in this but we take it for granted. God has called us in to His kingdom and now expects us to profess our faith in Him. We are not threatened with death because of our faith. We are able to possess this faith without worrying about our lives being taken from us. However, we shy away from professing our faith. Why is that? Why are we so afraid of letting people know we are followers of Christ? the only thing that we are faced with in exclaiming our faith is the rejection of people. It is not ourselves that they are rejecting but it is the one whom we profess. In that case we need not to be selfish and say "O well that person doesn't like me,"But we should be praying in turn that God will do a work on their heart and to soften their conscience so that they can experience the freedom and the grace that is within a love relationship with the Heavenly Father.
So my purpose of all this is for us to begin to have a passion for the God we serve. To make a stand for Him before all mankind. even when we are faced with adverse situations. These trials come to test our faith and our belief of who God is. when we persist in our way of living for God, He finds us worthy of honor. So let's take this story we may have heard hundreds of times before and live it out. Let us speak of how GREAT our God is in comparison to all the things of this world that fight for our attention. Let's go live a life dedicated to serving God and not ourselves, worrying more about the eternal positions of those around us and not our vapor-like being here on earth.
Let's profess our faith before all men so that through our actions God is glorified and not ourselves. Just as the king gave glory to God for His devoted protection of His servants Rack, Shack, and Benny.
