Read: Daniel 3
This story is set in Babylon, where the Jewish people had
been taken into exile. Three young Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
have found favour with King Nebuchadnezzar and risen to high office in his
court. But Nebuchadnezzar is a megalomaniac, and decides to set up a golden
statue of himself and command that everyone should bow down before it.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as good Jews, are not prepared to do this, and
as a result, are thrown into a furnace so hot that that the flames kill those
who put them into it.
King Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see, though, that not
only are the three men not burned up, but that there seems to be a fourth in
the furnace with them, “and the fourth
has the appearance of a god”. When the three men are called to come out,
their hair is not even singed, and they don’t smell of the fire. Nebuchadnezzar
praises God who has “sent his angel and
delivered his servants who trusted in him.”
·
What do
you think of this story of miraculous deliverance? What about those who are
faithful and yet are not delivered from trouble? Can this story still be an
encouragement to them?
·
The angel
in this story does nothing except be present with the three men. Is it
sometimes enough simply to know that God is with us, even if we are not
miraculously delivered? Have you experienced this in your life?
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