Read Daniel Chapter 3
Don’t Bow Down!
King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image 90 ft high and 9 ft wide then he made a big decree that when everyone hears all the instruments play they are to bow down to the golden image and worship it. Those who do not bow down will be thrown into a fiery furnace.
The Chaldeans were more than happy to tell the king that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not bowing down to the golden image.
This enraged the king and he brought the three young men before him and said I’m going to give you one last chance to bow down to the golden image or I’ll throw you into the fiery furnace, then, in arrogance, he said “If I throw you into the fiery furnace what god is there that can save you from my hand?”
They responded by saying, “The God we serve can deliver us from your hand but even if he doesn’t, let it be known that we will not serve your gods or worship your golden image….”
This infuriated the king all the more, so he had the three young men tied and thrown into the fiery furnace which he made seven times hotter. It was so hot that the guards who threw them in died from the heat. But the king saw that the three men were just walking around inside the furnace with a fourth person that seemed like a son of a god. It was then he realized that their God did indeed deliver them from his hand. As a result, he made a decree that anyone who speaks negatively about their God, they would be killed and their homes would be destroyed.
The three young men were released and the king caused them to prosper into Babylon.
Okay, what are you going to do when faced with the dilemma of standing up for the Lord or bowing down to the gods of your culture? Are you willing to stand up for the Lord even if the consequences are horrible? Would you be willing to stand up for the very unpopular person who’s being bullied, even if that meant social suicide, or being ostracized from the “popular group”?
I want my conscious to be clean / clear before the Lord. I want to do what’s right so that if people speak ill of me, I at least know that before God I’m innocent. However, when I fail, and i do fail, I want to make right what I did wrong so that I can get back with the Lord, loving and serving Him.
