Bold

One of my favorite all time Bible stories is found in Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were close friends of Daniel. Like Daniel, they were faithful to God. They were slaves in a pagan land who had received favor and honor as leaders – even though they didn’t believe in the Babylonian gods.

The king of Babylon had what he thought to be a good idea. He built a 90 ft. gold statue and then invited all his leadership team for the “unveiling”. He gave the order that when the music played, everyone must bow down and worship this gold statue. The music played and everyone bowed down to the idol except Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  This was reported to the king. This made him furious because they were leaders that he had promoted previously. They were defying his order in front of the rest of his leadership team and possibly the nation. News like this travels fast!

The king calls them in and explains the order once more to them personally and then orders the music to see if they will just bow down and all will be well. They will not bow down. The king becomes really mad and orders the furnace heated 7 times hotter. He is really made because they stood and boldly defied his order and his threats. Check this out….

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, saying, “Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves to you. 17 If you throw us into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from the furnace. He will save us from your power, O king. 18 But even if God does not save us, we want you, O king, to know this: We will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 NCV)

The king orders them thrown into the furnace and God does indeed save them. The ropes they are tied up with are burnt, but their clothes, hair, nothing else it burned. In fact, they didn’t even smell like smoke.  I love their boldness and firm faith in God. I am blown away by their courage to make a stand that could have cost them their life. Their faith in God was deep.

I want to be bold and unashamed of my faith in God. I want to live a courageous life that honors Him. I don’t want to necessarily draw attention to myself, but I really want to draw attention to Creator God. He is the Maker of all things and He NEVER fails. He is worthy of my bold faith. Even if God doesn’t answer my prayers the way I want, I will serve Him only.