Daniel 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said".... 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury".... 20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
This passage of scripture teaches us that there are instances when our future may be put on the line in serving God, or in following the commands and laws He has given for us to live by. In the above example, the three Hebrew boys had a bright future before them, with the very real prospects of earthly greatness, wealth, and power to be had in the kingdom of Babylon. They had already been promoted to positions of honor by the king, and therefore they were now required to show their allegiance to him who had shown them such great kindness, in granting them a superior education in the top universities of Babylon. This request might seem on the surface to be reasonable to the logical thinking mind, and indeed it would be, were it not for the kind of request that was made by the king, that they should fall down and worship idols, a practice that is strictly forbidden in the scriptures. Let's read:
Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image".....
The parents of these three Hebrews were obviously god-faring Christians, for they had apparently instilled in their children a deep reverence for God and His law, and therefore their kids would not be bullied, threatened, flattered or heckled into doing the unthinkable. As a matter of fact, what may often seem as a good course of action to many people, is really quite the opposite in God's sight, for whenever we are faced with a choice of bowing or standing firm, we should always choose the right instead of the wrong, because the great, miraculous manifestations of God are often directly linked to our willingness to put our future on the line for Him.
Idolatry in its various forms tends to interfere with our intelligence, for when we are found bowing down to objects of wood and stone, we thereby greatly depreciate our original God-given manhood and womanhood, and according to the scriptures, the more we bow is the more we become like the objects of our worship. Let's read:
Psalm 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
Now, although we in our day may not be asked to bow down to graven images, yet there is another insidious form of idolatry which is often urged upon Sabbath-keeping Christians, in that we are often faced with situations which demand that we surrender our peculiar faith, or else we would have to face the music. In our day there are institutions of higher learning that have their tests and classes upon the Sabbath day, and in some instances we cannot be thus excused except we suffer loss in our grades. Then the challenge is whether we would bow to the prevailing lawlessness which abounds in the secular world, or whether, like the three faithful Hebrews, we will put our future on the line for Christ.
Whenever we are faced with dire situations and choices such as these, let us always remember that a future without God is like a one way trip to never land, where the kingdoms and systems of this world are to be forever trashed, never to be recycled again. In standing up for right, the Christian will often be put at odds with conventional and secular modes of thought, but if we put our future on the line for God, without murmuring or complaining, He will exalt and lift us up in due season, to the chagrin of those who choose to do otherwise. We therefore end with a passage of scripture which confirms us in a right course of action in such situations, and it is the will of God that we be found faithful at every stage of our development, for is better to die doing the right, rather than to live for the moment, doing the wrong. Let's read:
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study and practice of His every word. God bless!