SCRIPTURE: Daniel 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. [Daniel 3:5-6]
Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ” [Matthew 4:8-10]
God created all things and all people; His desire was to bless all people with the abundance of creation, as they lived in loving fellowship with God and one another.
According to the bible, Satan (an evil spirit, a rebellious angel) does what he can to promote hate, rebellion and misery in God’s world; it was his lies that led Adam and Eve to first reject God and His love.
Satan still does what he can to turn people away from God: sometimes he uses cruelty, threats, violence, etc. to compel people to go against God (as with today’s story of the fiery furnace, and sometimes he uses a ‘sweet deal’.
Jesus was offered the ‘sweet deal’ – all your heart’s desire will be given to you if you reject God and worship Satan.
But Jesus knew better; He knew that heeding Satan will always lead to misery in the end.
And the three men in our story today knew better as well; the fiery furnace was nothing compared to the ‘fire’ of life without God.
They didn’t know for sure whether God would help them [Daniel 3:17-18], but they still knew that life would ultimately better worshiping God than worshiping that stupid statue.
And at the very last minute, God shows them that yes indeed He will help those that remain true to Him.
But notice that He waits to the last minute, when they are already in the fire; this should help us to hang on when God doesn’t help us as soon as we would hope.
And like these three men, we should hang on even if God does not help us (Daniel 3:18].
Some people dispute whether this story really happened; I am just taking the story at face value.
Certainly if there is a God (and I believe there is) then rescuing people from fire is not impossible for Him.
The story makes this very point, that this God IS able to save even from the strongest, scariest people or powers in the world.
So how is Satan tempting you – with pressure to compromise, or with a ‘sweet deal’?
Will you hang on to God, or give up on Him – and what will you give Him up for?
What in this world could ever compare to life with God in His love, in His world?
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. [Romans 8:18]
Bow down to God, it will be worth it in the end!
PRAYER:
Lord, if I think of the ‘sweet deals’ that Satan uses against me, and if I really think about them – they are nothing compared to You and Your life. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. [Psalms 63:3]