But if not...
Daniel 3.1-30
Your Majesty ... we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
Prepare
Make a list of the five most important people or things in your life (be honest!). Looking at the list, pray God would help you keep the good things on it in their proper place.
Read
Explore
Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and arrogance reach new heights (literally) today. Sixty cubits (v 1) is approximately twenty-seven metres, so the statue was roughly the height of a nine-storey building. And yet, consider how big the statue would be, if the idols in your life were turned into gold?
Nebuchadnezzar’s enormous image of his god projected his power into the lives of his people, who were threatened with death if they did not bow to it (vs 13–15). That threat sets up the miracle – which takes place not in verse 25 but in verse 18.
In May 2017 a bus-load of Christian pilgrims was attacked by extremists in Egypt. As the women, men and children were forced off the bus, each was told at gunpoint to renounce their faith. Those who refused – which included children – were killed: 29 in total.
What would you do? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow the knee. This is the greatest miracle in today’s passage: that they stayed faithful, not knowing whether or not they would be delivered. ‘But if not,’ they said: ‘Even though God might not save us from death, still we will not bow.’
Respond
How can you follow these examples, and refuse to bow the knee to idols? Resolve to do (or not do) one thing this week that rejects an idol’s power in your life.