29And
from me is made a decree that all of a people of a nation and a tongue who
speak anything upon the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego pieces he will
be taken, his house an outhouse will be made, since not there is a God another
who is able to deliver like this.
Comparing this book of Daniel to a mine, one of the old
writers exclaimed something like, “The vein of truth runs deep in this book.
Those who’ll take the time to mine it will find the ore rich!” “Aye!” says my
soul. Rich it is. As we’re told in Psalm 19:9,10, “…the judgments of the Lord are
true…More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold!” And my
soul always love to add, “And when you know the truth, the truth shall make you
free!” Rich it is!
That has certainly been my experience studying this chapter
of Daniel. What an encouraging story this is! From beginning to end, this
chapter would fuel our faith with the greatness of our God and make us who are
but cringing worms to be instead faithful and brave servants of the Most High
God. As I’ve studied I’m struck by how utterly practical all of this is for our
everyday lives. I fear we commonly miss this chapter’s helpful instruction,
when all we see is an utterly amazing miracle and then, in our minds, write it off
as something far above the humdrum of our meager daily existence. A thousand
times, No! Work the mine! This is our
life. As another old writer noted, “We ought not wonder that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego found themselves in a fire – that is where we believers live!”
Is that not true? Do you and I not live all day every day
surrounded by fears, facing threats of danger from seemingly every quarter? As we
would simply resolve to love God and love people, to be faithful about our
duties, to humbly do right, does it not seem we face a thousand obstacles? “Terror
on every side!” this evil world cries in our ears. It is true: “The enemy
hounds me. He crushes me to the ground…” Where on earth could you and I
possibly find the strength to even lift our feeble heads? Is it not when we
hear the Savior say, “Fear not, I am with thee?” Is it not true that your life
and mine all day every day is a constant reenactment of the very events of
Daniel chapter 3?
Yes, I would answer, and a thousand times yes.
This story is our
lives. This is every day.
This story would remind us this is God’s world. All day every day what really matters is that our
great and glorious God is carrying on His work of Redemption. You and I are
just players on His stage. “We’ve no
cause for worry or for fear.” As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, “Our God
is able to deliver us…” In all those threats, He’ll either deliver us from them
or through them, but He will deliver us. They could trust Him and so can we.
They could get up that morning not knowing what the day would bring and so can
you and I. We need only know and remember that when the evening comes our God
will have done great things.
Poor Nebuchadnezzar. He didn’t know the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. He had nothing to hope in but his own riches and royal
power. What so violently angered him was to find a situation where all of that
availed him nothing. These three
Hebrew exiles actually refused to
obey him!!! So what did he do? He threw all of that power and riches at them in
the form of a raging furnace. And what did it get him? Complete, utter, humiliating
failure in front of his entire empire!
As I read his proclamation, several thoughts run through my
mind. One is that I clearly do not see the fruits of any genuine repentance or conversion.
I’ve remarked before, as an unregenerate man, all Nebuchadnezzar knows is
power. What the Lord has done is spoken to him in his language and note he got the message. He calls our Lord the Most
High God and acknowledges, “No other god can save in this way!”
What I do see, though, I believe, is a man progressing toward believing. We don’t know
absolutely that Nebuchadnezzar ever truly believed, but I’d say there’s a good
chance. Prior to this particular day all he’s ever known was his endless
pantheon of gods and goddesses. Every nation and city had their own “god” and
it was totally okay to show respect to someone else’s god. Suddenly Nebuchadnezzar
meets this God who demands singular worship and has the amazing power to
protect his servants who grant Him that allegiance. We need to understand, the
whole idea is new to Nebuchadnezzar. He has today met the God of the Hebrews
and found He is real and He is powerful and He’s a very different “god” – one who
demands singular worship. That is significant – but it isn’t enough yet to
actually accomplish a total and genuine conversion. Obviously in chapter 4 he’s
going to have a much more personal encounter with the God of the Hebrews, but
for now, I believe he’s still a work in progress.
That is worth noting as I fear we often want people to
believe now. We know their souls hang
by a thread over the fires of hell and rightfully are concerned for them. But
we have to realize salvation is the Lord’s work, not ours, and, just as He did
with us, He will draw people often times over a period of years. Sometimes we have need of patience! Someone once
noted, “Whatever the Lord does, He usually seems to do it slowly.” The other thing worth noting is that sometimes it may be
our very trials the Lord is using to accomplish His drawing. Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego had a harrowing day, but through their suffering, the Lord was
very well drawing the heart of this pagan monarch – not to mention probably a
LOT of other people. If nothing else, the Lord was writing a story that could speak
encouragement to a thousand generations of believers yet to be born (us
included!). The guys had no way of knowing any of this, but it was true
nevertheless!
The other thing I want to note again is that, reading his
decree, we see that, in essence, Nebuchadnezzar hasn’t changed. The same
threatening despot just uses his tactics in a seemingly positive direction. It’s
good that he’s requiring people not to speak badly of the God of the Hebrews.
But he’s still saying, “…Or I’ll cut you to pieces and reduce your home to an
outhouse!!!” He still knows no language but that of power. I hope before it was
all over he really did believe in the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I
hope he somehow got to taste the wonder of a God who stands for love and truth.
I hope he got to learn that it is love
that casts out fear, not power.
This is of course a great day for the Jewish people. It is,
in light of eternity, a great day for Nebuchadnezzar. It is, in the end, a
great day for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But who could have ever guessed
or even imagined the events of this day? All we could have known in the morning
was that our God is faithful and by evening we’d have been assured (once again)
it was true.
But then, isn’t that every
day?
No comments:
Post a Comment