ASLC Devotions -- Monday, April 16

Daniel 3:24-26

²⁴Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” ²⁵He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” ²⁶Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is among my favorites. (You can read the whole thing in Daniel 3:1-30.) My affection for the story can be traced back to a children’s book of Bible stories I had. The tale of these three men was illustrated with them in the flaming furnace – a moving picture that I could alter if I pulled a tab on the side of the page to show the angel in the fire with them. We hear it read at the Easter Vigil and I wait eagerly for it each year.

These three men refused to worship the golden statue that the king had built and he had them thrown into the fire. But they did  not die – though the guards who threw them into the fire died! They did not die, and Nebuchadnezzar was so astonished (who can blame him!) that he changed his decree – all should worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I’m struck every time I read it by the details – the overarching decree of the king, the heat of the furnace, the various instruments that make noise. But tucked in the middle of the story is the simple statement of faith that the three make: “¹⁷If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. ¹⁸But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.””

They didn’t walk into the furnace testing God, but rather saying – regardless of what happens, our faith and trust in God will not be changed. Take strength from that witness.

Peace,

Pastor Jenn