Do you feel like you’re a lone voice in a crowd, like you’re behind enemy lines in a battle for right and wrong, like you’re in a small boat trying to cross a huge ocean of critics at work, or like you’re the only one standing up and out for a decision that will affect everyone’s life? Are people around you calling you names because you will not give up your faith? How do we live with integrity and truth in a society that has lost its values?
There is a story in the book of Daniel in the Bible that describes how King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built a golden statue of himself so that he could be worshiped by the people of the entire world at the time. As he found out, any attempt to be greater than God fails. Those who build their lives on pride and arrogance like to be worshiped. Those who willingly stand up and out for their faith and beliefs usually get thrown into the fire. Always remember that the fire makes us stronger, not weaker, because Jesus Christ walks with us.
In the story, three pious, Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar and said they would not worship him or any statue that looked like him. He was not their God; there was only one true God. The king ordered their deaths by a fiery furnace. The three men walked into the fire that was increased seven times, and they were not consumed by it. They shouted to the king as the fire was increasing around them, “God will deliver us from your hand.” Not only did the three pious men walk out of the fiery furnace, but the soldiers that had bound their arms and legs up were burned to death. As Nebuchadnezzar watched this incredible scene, he saw four men in the furnace, not three. He acknowledged that the three men were not hurt and that the fourth man was like the Son of God. The king said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him…that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” (Daniel 3-28 KJV) The king decreed that no people or nation should speak against these pious men; if they did, they would be cut to pieces and their houses would become dunghills. There was no other God than their God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were promoted in the province of Babylon.
What can we learn from this “modern-day story” because it is a story for most of us today? Sometime in our life, there will be a time when someone will ask you to violate your values, your faith. There will be those who will be solidly on the side of right or the side of wrong. Some people think that they can play the middle of the road by bowing down on the outside and standing up on the inside, but these people stand to lose their Heavenly home. Not standing up for God leads to the fiery furnace. There is only one way and that way is the way of truth, light, and love. When you pray for God to come into your life’s decisions, He will stand by you. The fire may make your clothing smell, and it may lightly touch you. It may even make you sad or angry at times, but the flames will never turn your skin into ashes. What I have learned from the fire is that I am stronger and I am loved by my Eternal Father more than I ever thought possible.
Don’t listen to those who speak arrogantly and with vulgar words for these are the words of the devil. Don’t compromise your values, your faith; stand up for God. In many situations today, we need to compromise but not at the expense of who we really are, God’s children. We may be just one person, one voice, but we are strong in the knowledge that God is on our side. People are watching; we can be the one that is noticed, noticed for doing the right thing and often tough thing. We are not alone; Jesus Christ walks with us in the fiery furnaces of our lives.
Anna Hartt
