Each week of the study follows the corresponding chapter of Daniel. This week we took at look at chapter 3, which deals with three friends of Daniel who were thrown into a fiery furnace for not bowing down to worship the statue that King Neb had made. Essentially, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego let the king know in no uncertain terms that he has no real power over them. That's bold stuff! Here's the short of what happened:
1. Neb made a gigantic statue.
2. He invited everyone who was anyone to come look at it in all it's golden glory.
3. A few noticed that there were three Jewish men, who had a degree of authority, but they weren't saying awesome things about it.
4. The music started and they just stood there while everyone else acted all a fool.
5. Someone decided, "Oooooo, I'm tellin'!"
6. They told.
7. The king got mad.
8. He asked if it was true.
9. Said he'd give them one more chance.
10. Then threatened them with "Or else!"
And so now we have the three guys who don't give in...take a look at Daniel 3:16-18.
16Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Italicized are the words of verse 16. Now we're talking about loyalty. Tests of loyalty. What it is to maintain loyalty...real examples. Neb wasn't loyal. Just one chapter back he proclaimed what a great God that God was and how He was LORD over kings! How quickly we change our minds when we don't have loyalty.
A few things that Beth points out for us in our study (concerning loyalty- to God especially) is that it " is not something we suddenly are at the flash-moment of testing. It's something we already were that surfaces in the test." One aspect of loyalty that I had not considered before, or maybe I knew it in my heart, but didn't know how to explain it with my head- and give voice to it with my mouth, was that when you have it, you are ready, you are prepared.
I'm impressed by two different commentaries on this passage of scripture. The first is by Wesley, he remarks, "there is no need of any answer in this case for it is in vain for us to debate the matter; the king is resolved to have his will of us, and we are resolved on the contrary." What it seems he is saying is that it doesn't really matter what they could have said to the king, he still would want them to bow down and worship this idol. No amount of prodding, even to the point of death, would change their mind on turning their back on their LORD's command to serve no other gods. Matthew Henry though, in my opinion sums up the matter really well by stating the deeper, more subtle issue- another person's perception of you. In his words, "Fear of man and love of the world, especially want of faith, make men yield to temptation, while a firm persuasion of the truth will deliver them from denying Christ, or being ashamed of him. We are to be meek in our replies, but we must be decided that we will obey God rather than man."
So that's it. Who are we going to be loyal to? I think of a movie in which I never watched myself, but my husband has quoted from it mockingly, but it happens to fit really nicely here. The storyline of the movie is about an educated man who trades places with another man to avoid some kind of unjust punishment. The man he trades places with is a hoodlum. This hoodlum does his best to impress others with his high-class talk, and it would seem that this irritates the educated man, so he does something a little unconventional.
This act takes place but for a moment on a passenger train at dinner time. Both men order from the menu, but one's request may not have been able to be fulfilled. He orders "the yard bird burnt to a crisp. Then I want ya ta spit on dat wit a lil bit of dat hot tabasca and I'ma wash all dat down wit a 40 dog of Schlitz malt liqa!" And so the man who wasn't actually the hoodlum, but was pretending to be, streams line of profanities and then, " How you gonna run a successful business without any Schlitz malt liqa? You ain't keepin' it real. You ain't representin'!"' It came out funny because he spoke like a mad man, but it wasn't really funny because he himself wasn't keeping it real or representing.
Jesus, I bet, meant that when he said, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" It's a great idea, but have you thought it all the way through? Do you know and are you willing to do what it takes to see it be done? You need to already have your mind made up. You need to know what you'll do just in case.
I'm resolved to not give in. How about you? Let's hold each other accountable. I like this great visual tool she gives us to remember why and how the Lord is with us in all of our tests, trials, and temptations...
(Mid-June 2011)
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