Daily Devotional

There were 3 young men, full of faith, while surrounded by fear and fire. The King made an edict for every person to bow down and worship his 90 feet tall golden idol …a serious problem for any true worshipers of Yahweh. Most cowered due to the terror of promised punishment, which was being thrown into the fiery furnace. But then as the music played and everyone bowed, 3 heads stood standing above the crowd.

In so many ways, this intense moment, that we really no nothing about yet as western Christians, was all about fear. Who would Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fear, the most? King Nebuchadnezzar the ruler of Babylon…or God, the ruler and Creator of the Universe. Jesus declares hundreds of years later, “ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10:28)
 
In our American culture in 2022, we may fear of being embarrassed or “canceled” online, but fiery furnaces have not started springing up to date. And it still is a matter of responding in obedience or disobedient, in the midst of fear; fearing temporal consequences, or the fear of the Lord. Now just because the answer might be clear, in no way does it make our faith walk easy. In fact, this kind of scenario is only winnable, when you’ve be practicing obedience for years in much easier circumstances.

But we must not concluded without the profound take away from this biblical text, that though we’re often forced with who we’ll fear more, when God responds to His faithful ones, the show of loves and power is explosive! After they were thrown in the a furnace that would have surely killed them, and had already killed the guards who threw them in, they were soon seen by the King as: “unbound,” “unharmed,” and not alone! Daniel 3:25 ends with, “…and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”  Jesus was with them in the fire! Where would we be friends if that wasn’t true? Yes we have to face our fears and walk in obedience before God even when the stakes are high, but when Jesus enters a room (or a furnace)…everything changes!

New International Version (NIV)
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