Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Lessons from Daniel's friends

Tweet

Looking at Daniel 3, I see a real lesson in the testing of our personality in the face of adversity, pressure and challenges which we can relate to even in our modern lifestyle. Although this took place in an era when Kings built monuments which the nations were expected to pay homage to; we can relate to it. Even in our society today; no matter what the situation, there are times when we will be confronted with the situation that took place in verse 9 and the circumstances which followed.

The King issued an order and now he was being called to carry it out. The Chaldeans came to the King with flattery, to test him in how he intended to carry out punishment on those who had disobeyed his command. They came with accusation, building a good case against the Jews serving in Babylon, while at the same time putting the King in a position of taking a stand on his own words. If we looked at this in a modern government situation we would see that they were within the law, so to speak in doing so. We would also see a well planned move against the Jews.

What we learn from Nebuchadnezzar's response really applies to us today. It was okay for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to worship their own God as long as they did not publicly break the rules. Their response to the King's offer to give them a second chance and let them off the hook if they would do as they were told was met by men who knew God's laws. The command not to worship other gods is clearly not allowed according to the Torah.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego knew the Word of God and their strength of character was never clearer than in their response in verses 16-18. Under no circumstances would they worship other gods or bow to a golden statue. If we don't have a clear understanding of what the gods of this world are we can easily find ourselves crossing the line. In these times of testing as we find ourselves in the furnace of life; Satan knows when and how to draw our attention away from God. Through fear and worry our focus is diverted and we lose the Peace of God and begin looking for solutions elsewhere.

The enemy wants to anesthetize us, when this is the time we need to remain alert; a time when we should be reflecting a personality of standing in the face of pressure, against the gods of this world. May we look back at the end of this current season; having become stronger in standing; trusting God and growing in faith.

This is taken from the Harvest of Asher Facebook page.