12.04.2015 Old Testament: Dan 3.26–30

To read the Bible in a year, read Daniel 3–4 on December 4, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

We have a tendency to rule out people for belief in God. We determine that so and so would never turn around, quit living the way they have been, and turn to the Lord. If we had lived with Daniel in Babylon we probably would have written off King Nebuchadnezzar, yet, the Lord worked in his life and the man made an amazing turn around. Consider the first time he turned after having witnessed the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from a fiery furnace,

Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3.26–30). 

Later the king fell back into his old ways of worshiping himself, and the Lord worked with him again, but hear the words of this fierce enemy of the Jews, who declared the truthfulness of the God we serve.