Read Daniel 3.
How should we respond when our faith is challenged? After some time, King
Nebuchadnezzar built a monument based upon his dream.
Daniel interpreted the gold head of the image to be Nebuchadnezzar. However,
he overlaid the entire 90' statue of himself with gold. This is probably
an indication that he wanted his empire to endure, rather than the changing
empires of his dream. Second, he had dismissed his spiritual statements
of chapter two concerning God and made this statute an idol above all the
multiple gods of Babylon. To dedicate the statue, the king convened all
the governmental leadership of his empire.
Bowing before royalty has always been a common gesture. But
Nebuchadnezzar demanded worship, perhaps in the same sense the Pharaohs were
treated as deity. It is obvious from reading the book of Daniel that the
pagan advisers never forgot their embarrassment in chapter two and the
promotion of captive Jews over them in leadership. In their first
retaliation, they accused Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego of not worshiping the
idol. The accusation was true. These servants of the one and only true
God would not violate their spiritual commitment (vv.16-18).
Nebuchadnezzar's foolish ego led to a senseless, angry response. His
instructions on executing the three Hebrews caused some of his elite guard to die
in the process. But, again, God is shown to be faithful. He
miraculously delivered the three men by a preincarnate appearance of Christ
Himself (v.25). Then, Nebuchadnezzar made his second acknowledgment of
God's sovereign superiority (2:47) and issued a royal decree for the empire.
This is not an example of merely being stubborn about one's spiritual
commitment to God. We want others to see and understand the difference
the Lord has made in our lives. Here is how to pray when our faith is
under attack.
1. That they will see we are true servants of God. (v.26)
2. That they will see the ineffectiveness of their actions against God. (v.27)
3. That they will see the undeniable power of God. (v.28a)
4. That they will see the depth of our love for God and want to know Him also.
(v.28b)
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