Burn Us Up
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up for the glory of God and were willing to be burned up in the fire regardless of rescue.
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. [3] But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Daniel 3:13-18
"BUT IF NOT"
Did this mean that they did not have faith? Some would say this gives way to doubt and does not honor God. I think that it shows that these three young men trusted in the Sovereignty of God and would rather burn than sin against Him. They did not know for sure if God would save them from the fire...they wanted Him to save them...they did not want to burn...but were willing to do so. What do I do in the face of ease and temptation to save myself?
I would love to have been with these three guys as they spent time together talking about life, faith, and obedience. I am sure that this event was not the first time they had to sacrifice ease, comfort, preference, flesh and public popularity in order to please God and find pleasure and rest in Him. Surly at times they would all individually slip and have the other two to implement some bold love on them...I don't know, but they stood firm together for God and showed that worship is more than singing, Sunday mornings, or relevancy...it is Glory and Sacrifice.
Glory...God was on the throne of their lives, He didn't just sneak onto it, He showed them through His Word that it is His proper place and they submitted willingly. I know they were tempted to glory in and place other things as supreme in their lives. They must have struggled with things like lust, greed, power, influence, success, image and the list could go on. These things scream for allegiance, attention, and affection but offer death in the end. They desired for God to reign in their lives.
Sacrifice...bottom line, they were willing to die to honor God and His decrees. What are the things I need to sacrifice in order for God to be known, loved and worshiped? What things am I holding on to?
So, I don't want to miss the power of the words..But if not...those words are packed with faith, a faith that is willing to show itself in flames.
These thoughts are a combination of teachings from Mark Driscol, Jeff Hodges, and Shane and Shane that I have been thinking over and wanted to write down.
