Daniel 3: 1 – 30.

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. He passed a decree that when the music was played, all the people should fall down and worship the golden image, failing which they would be cast immediately into the fiery furnace. The three Jewish exiles from the tribe of Judah, whose Babylonian names were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were brought to the king for not paying heed to the image which he had set up. The faith of the three committed Hebrews was challenged by the king but they never buckled in fear to worship the image.

In furious rage, Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to be cast into the furnace, heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. When they fell bound into the burning furnace, the king was astonished to find that there were four men walking in the midst of the fire unhurt, with the fourth man looking like a son of the gods.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were willing to face death courageously without compromising to worship the image. God honoured their faith by ensuring that they came out of the fiery furnace without a burn. Though they defied Nebuchadnezzar, God made the king to promote them to a higher office in the province of Babylon.

When we obey God, without compromising to bow down to the ungodly ways of the heathen world – God will use the authorities above us to promote us!

Thought for the day:

‘For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another’. (Psalms 75:6, 7).