We are in a time of testing. Backing down and forsaking our beliefs is not an option. Will we fall and worship something other than the living God? Will we give up eternal life for temporary safety and acceptance by a world looking for something easier to accept? Will we be still about our experiences with the living God? Our culture is trying to remove God from the dialog. There are those who question His sovereignty and holiness.
The image was about ninety feet high by nine feet wide. It rose up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar called everyone to be present for the dedication of this graven image. Their instructions? When you hear the music of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the harp, you will fall down and worship or you will be thrown into the fire and die! Scriptures say the sounds came and everyone fell down and worshipped. The Kings seers or astrologers report that there are three Jews still standing. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are brave men. They refuse to bow to this image. They are brought to the king and given the opportunity to change their minds and fall on their face to worship the towering image. They refuse. They are bound and thrown into a fire that is so hot it kills the soldiers who place them in it. The king not only sees them walking around in the fire, free of the bindings that held them, but there is a fourth man walking with them. They are subsequently brought out, unharmed. I encourage you to read this entire passage. Our God always wins…always (Daniel 3:1-30)
Thought For Today:
Some are small. Normal everyday irritations that cause us momentary sidetracks. Then come those that require some prayer time to get us through. Perhaps a change of course. Then there are those life changing fires of deep sorrows and serious problems that we must walk through indefinitely. There does not appear to be an end to the pain. The kind that puts us into the prayer closet for hours, days, weeks, months of tears and soul searching.
The king saw a fourth man walking with these three young Jewish men. He proclaimed it was the Son of the gods. I believe that it wasn’t just any son of any god. It was the Son of the only God. God walking in the fire. He walks with us in ours. He frees us from the bondage that problems bind us with. He walks with us until the resolution is clear and we can go forward. He has a place for us. Just might be a place we may never have experienced before, without this difficult sidetrack. What then?
Our experiences, while there, in the heat of the moment, are meant to be shared. You never know who may need help getting through their own situation. You may have the encouragement and experience that they need to hear about. Your walk with the God of the universe. Your pain. That your answer did come. God does not leave His children alone. You are here to worship, walk through and experience life’s trials for a reason. You have a story to share with others. You share with them who was, is and will always be, walking with them during difficult trials. Once you experience God walking with you, bowing to any other god is out of the question.
Scripture For Today:
Daniel 3: 25
25 “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” (NLT)
Prayer For Today:
Hello Father! We are under attack. Our culture is slowly slipping from You to other gods. We believe that we are never alone. You walk with us through the heat and release the chains that bind us. Things are never as they seem. We are with You here and one day we will be with You in the eternal home you have prepared for us. We pray that we bow to no other. Our allegiance is to You, our Father in Heaven. The One and only true God who sent His Son bringing salvation to a lost world. Please forgive us our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
© 2015 Kathy Ledbetter all rights reserved