Daniel 3
Over the next few months, our morning gatherings will be working through the book of Hebrews, and our evening gatherings through the book of Daniel.
Readings for this week May 8 - 12
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings
Day 1 – Non-Participation
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 3:1-7
So obviously, the change did not last long. From “Surely your God is the god of Gods, and the Lord of kings,” to “Fall down and worship the image of gold that [I have] set up” or “immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” ‘Worship me and all that I have created or die’ – that is the decree of Nebuchadnezzar, whose message now seems to be back ‘on brand’. Worship and belief are now, even more, a matter of life and death for his subjects.
So many hundreds of millions of people in the world today – Christians foremost among them – face persecution because of their religious beliefs or even lack of religious belief. For those of us in the West, this reality does not seem to match up with our experience. We do not face persecution and the threat of death because of what we believe. We face apathy, indifference and, at worst, perhaps ridicule. But for so many followers of Jesus around the world today, their faith in him sees them discriminated against, attacked, persecuted, threatened with violence, and even killed. Many face the literal ‘fires’ faced by Nebuchadnezzar’s subjects – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We must not let our peace and comfort blind us to the reality of life faced by so many of Jesus’ followers in other places. Far from our home they may be, but far from our prayers they must never be, as we intercede on their behalf before God – and as we ask God to show us how to live in greater solidarity with those in need.
Question to Consider
What can you do in solidarity with those facing persecution?
Prayer
Lord God, be with your followers around the world who face persecution and even death because of their faithfulness to you. May they know your loving presence at every moment of their day – may we not forget. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – Stand Up or Fall Down
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 3:8-15
Stand up or fall down. That is the choice faced by Daniel’s three friends: stand up to the pressure being exerted by Nebuchadnezzar and refuse to worship his idol on pain of death; or acquiesce, fall down and worship the statue and thus avoid a fiery end. The choice might seem obvious, but it isn’t easy. Daniel’s successful interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was what prompted the king to promote Daniel and his friends to their current positions – positions that have made his friends’ refusal to bow down very conspicuous; proof if ever it was needed, that faithfully and obediently following God does not automatically make for a better, easier, more comfortable life. Often it is the reverse.
Stand up or fall down. That is the choice faced by all of us in our lives, every day. Unlike so many Christians in the world today, we might not be standing between an idolatrous statue and an all-consuming fire, but we still have choices to make about how we live and how serious we are about serving God – or rather, how serious we are about letting the will of God determine our actions, from the smallest to the biggest. (Or even letting God be the judge of what counts as big or small.) We can’t just assume that a ‘good’ result (whose definition of ‘good’?) means God was in it and a ‘bad’ result (but ‘bad’ from whose perspective, according to whose values?) means that he wasn’t. Standing up or falling down requires that we judge the decision not by what is necessarily good or bad, easy or hard, but by what is faithful and Christ-like, what is God’s will, and our desire to do it.
Questions to Consider
What is the determining factor for your decision-making? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, may your kingdom be the measure by which I make my decisions, not my own wishes. Your will, not mine, be done. Make me bolder in my decision-making for the sake of your kingdom. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – The Exercise of Power
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 3:16-23
Today, it’s all about power: the power of the king to threaten death and the power of three friends to (powerfully) defy it. Nebuchadnezzar’s exercise of his kingly power ends up being a life-threatening danger not just to Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, but also to the soldiers who are simply doing their job. So hot is the fiery furnace (now extra hot because of Nebuchadnezzar's tantrum over being defied) that the flames end up killing the soldiers delivering Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego into the furnace. The king uses his power for personal, selfish ends, uncaring of who may be hurt in the process. Ordinary men who turned up for work as usual suffer because the king can’t control himself and think about how his actions might affect his subjects.
Contrast this use of power with the power that Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego hold over the king through their refusal to let him have power over them. Simply by saying that God is able to save them from the furnace and that, even if he chooses not to, they still “will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up,” they have snuffed out the power that Nebuchadnezzar thinks he has over them. How we use the power we have and how we make the decisions we do, shows how much we have truly allowed ourselves to be transformed by Christ’s selfless, self-giving sacrifice. Again, in big or small decisions, we need to use the power and influence we have for the benefit of others, not ourselves. Because wherever doing so may take us, God is there too.
Questions to Consider
In what situations do you have power? How do you use it? How does God use you when you do?
Prayer
Gracious God, help me to be wise and compassionate in my use of power but also steadfast and faithful in all I do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – Safety Not Guaranteed
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 3:24-28
We see in today’s reading that whatever the construction of the furnace, it obviously has a gate or grille of some kind that allows those outside to see what is going on inside. Hence Nebuchadnezzar’s amazement at seeing four figures inside the furnace, rather than just the three who had been cast into it – and his amazement at the fourth figure looking like some sort of divine being. Three condemned men are restrained and then thrown into a furnace so hot it kills people who get too close to the outside of it, only to be seen walking freely through the flames, to emerge unscathed, unharmed, not even their clothes singed – this is a hardcore miracle right here, prompting another outburst of praise from Nebuchadnezzar.
It would be wonderful if we could say that such trust in God always results in rescue, in vindication, in miraculous restoration. But it doesn’t. Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego entrusted themselves and their fate to God, hopeful of rescue but trusting that ultimately whatever happened, live or die, their God was with them, and their worshipful obedience to him was more important than their survival. Their actions were determined by their faith in God and in their knowledge of God’s own faithfulness, not by the possible outcomes they risked. They unhesitatingly chose to lay down their lives. We don’t face furnaces, but we do face choices each day, big and small, with consequences that attempt to influence us before we even make a choice. But we do have a choice: to lay down our lives for our King or bow down to the idols around us calling for our allegiance.
Questions to Consider
Why does rescue not always come in time? How should we react to this?
Prayer
Loving Father, I trust you for my safety. You are my deliverer, and though the way may be hard and perilous, I will rely on you for my ultimate rescue, whatever that may look like, whenever it comes. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – Flip-Flop
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 3:28-30
Nebuchadnezzar would be perfectly suited to our 21st-century political environment. He suffers from wild mood swings, has no consistent, coherent policy, and changes his mind every half hour or so depending on what action or decision is expedient for his image and helpful for himself. Here we see him swinging wildly from “I’m going to burn you all to death” to “Your God is great, and I’m going to promote you.” He has immense power in his hands but no intelligence in his head nor compassion in his heart to help him wield it sensibly and beneficially. And yet he is the one in charge, with the power of life and death over millions of people. It’s bad enough if he’s your king; worse if he’s your boss.
So we might expect Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego to hesitate over the promotion. But they don’t. They take the jobs on offer. But they also show discernment; they perceive what God is doing and discern where he wants them to be, whatever their personal preferences (do we really want to work for this homicidal maniac?) might be. They choose to work within the system, where in the long run they can do much good, but they do so without compromising or selling out and without seeking personal gain or comfort. They stand up and resist when it really matters; they find workarounds and let things lie when it doesn’t. As one of our overseas friends wrote, “They won’t bow down to any idol made by the king, and they also won’t make an idol out of any issue in their own life that would cripple them.” They listen. They discern. They act. They go where God leads.
Question to Consider
How do we make sure our issues don’t get in the way of God’s will for us?
Prayer
Almighty Lord, may I make decisions about where I go based on where you want me and what you want me to do – regardless of the comfort/discomfort level for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)