The world offers fame, fortune, and the easy path to success. At what cost? I can take a shot, a pill and loose the weight. If I don’t like my body, face, or dimensions I can change the with surgery. If I don’t want to study for a test I can use AI and cheat my way through. AI is so powerful, that I can create whatever and pass it off as my own thoughts and creativity. Friends these are our modern day idols. The paths that lead to our desired outcomes but are taken through a short cut.
As I sat down to write this the phrase “We will not bow,” came into my mind. I began to think of all the things that we are finding ourselves caught up in today. We have become a very superficial people. We focus on status, wealth, prosperity, and self worship. I’m not pointing any fingers because I too have my own idols. I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit as I am writing this to you. There are things in my life that I have made a priority of what God wants.
There is a story in the Bible, of three young men that refused to bow down to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar raised up in Babylon. The King wanted this statue to be worship and bowed before every time the people heard any kind of music. This story comes from Daniel chapter 3. He decreed that whoever did not bow and worship the golden image, would be tossed into a fiery furnace! In this time many Jews lived amongst these Babylonians known as the Chaldean Dynasty.
King Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest king of this empire. These young men: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were companions of Daniel. Daniel was favored by the king despite his faith in the one true God. He was faithful in his duties and service to the king, but he kept himself righteous in the eyes of God. Daniel had his friends promoted when he was raised up into position. There were Chaldeans that were watching them and saw that they never worshipped the image. Like many people today, they couldn’t wait to go tell the king on them. The snitches were looking forward to the show!
They wanted to see these young men be tossed into the furnace. Immediately the king summons them to him and questions them. He was willing to give them one last chance to bow before the image. Here is how they responded:
“Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.””
Daniel 3:13-16, 18 ESV
They had faith that if they were faithful to God that he would be faithful to them. He would deliver them or let them die with honor.
We will not bow.
What idols are you bowing to today? Are you choosing what is easy for temporary pleasures or choosing the right thing? As I ask you this I am questions and pondering my own selfish heart. LORD help me not to bow to things that are outside of your WILL.
This response outraged ole King Neb, he couldn’t believe that they were challenging him and comparing him to their GOD! He decided to have the furnace heat turned up much hotter for them smarting off to him. He had it heated 7X’s hotter! He ordered Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be bound and thrown into the flames. The flames were so hot and it was heated so quickly, that it literally killed the men that took them and threw them in! Somebody call the fire department! I cannot even imagine the terror that faced. Yet I can imagine that they were praying and encouraging themselves that they chose the best thing.
Will you choose to honor God when it costs you something?
As the king and his advisors are watching they see that something strange is happening!
“Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.””
Daniel 3:24-25 ESV
The boys were unbound, WALKING around in the fire, and guess what? They were NOT alone! There was an angel of Lord with them! This moment shook the king to his core that he immediately started saying that they were servants of the MOST HIGH GOD! He literally starts worshipping their God! Their clothes, skin, and bodies were perfectly normal! They didn’t even have the smell of smoke as they came out of the roaring flames.
We can change the lives of those around us by being faithful to God. To allow them to see what his glorious power can do! They didn’t have to do this great thing, they could have just obeyed their employer.
We will not bow.
I can be the first to admit that I do not like to be in an uncomfortable situation no more than the next person. I want comfort, ease, and a practical life too. However, I also deeply long to continue to make a stand for my Lord and Savior. I want people to know of his great and wonderful deeds! I want them to hear my stories of his faithfulness. Yet, like many of us I struggle with compromise too. I admire these men so much!
Friends take it from me, compromise only leads to disappointment in the long run. We cannot outrun bad choices. We are not being threatened to be burned alive in our modern times, but we still can make a stand. We can continue to lift up our worship to our God in the midst of unbelievers. We can teach, pray, serve, and be a witness of him. We allow him to get the glory in our victories. Nothing I have came from my own strength and anything that I did earn in my own strength was given through the ability to my Lord gives of me!
The king changed his entire dynasty around and began to serve the ONE TRUE KING! He was humbled in that moment. Think of how many lives were spared by his choice? When we meet with a HOLY GOD our ways seem futile next to his. Our desires become his. We begin to little by little die to self. We struggle with our fleshly desires, but our heart is postured differently. When we encounter Jesus he gives us a new heart and mind. Sin will always come knocking because of this fallen world, but we can still honor God.
How can a sinner like me honor God?
By simply acknowledging our sinfulness, and making it clear that we understand we need a savior. We admit that we cannot love people right without him. We are able to recognize that our very nature is sinful. We often think wrong things, do wrong things and stray from the good path. Not one person walking can say they have not sinned! All have sinned and done evil in the sight to the LORD. Thoughts can be evil, intentions can be wrong, and motives are often rooted in the wrong ideals.
Let’s make the choices to honor Jesus. If he is tugging at your heart or knocking at your door, let him in.
All God wants is YES. One simple word and your life can change. If you feel the stirring in your belly it’s not the food that you ate, it’s the spirit God gave you being drawn to HIM. Choose this day whom you will serve? No other gods are like this one and that’s why he is the most controversial!
We will not miss the opportunity to bow before JESUS!
“for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.””
Romans 14:11 ESV
Happy Reading & God Bless
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