What would it take?

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal adviserscrowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Daniel 4:  24-30

I love this passage. I wonder at the great faith of these three men when faced with the fate of being cast into a white hot furnace.  The furnace was so hot that those who placed them there perished in just getting close.

Because of their great faith, our God did not allow any harm to come to them.

(consider this, a white hot furnace would be around 1300 C)

When Nebuchadnezzar saw this, he realized that our God, their God, had power far greater than his and he succumbed to the realization that he too should worship our God.

I often wonder what it would take for me to have the same realization.

I pray that I would have the same faith as these brave prophets.

Resisting the culture of our oppressors

Daniel 1:3-7

New International Version (NIV)

3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.[a] 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

 

During the time of this scripture it was customary for those who conquered to take the best and brightest and attempt to change the to the ways of their oppressors.  So too it is today, we sometimes just forget that there is a war ongoing.

My prayer for you today is to have the foresight and strength to avoid the indoctrination of those who seek to change our culture.  This process is a much more subliminal process than what is described in this passage from Daniel, but it ongoing nonetheless.

I pray for your strength that you may keep the faith.