Trusting God's Plan in the Fire: Lessons From the Book of DanielSample

After King Nebuchadnezzar had that crazy dream about the statue, he felt the need to make it a reality. In grand style, the king commissioned a 90-foot statue of gold to be constructed for everyone to see. Here’s a little background on King Nebuchadnezzar II who was known in history for his opulence. Have you ever heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? You can thank him for that one.

Once the golden statue was completed, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned everyone to attend its dedication. Again, no big deal as we have dedications for monuments all the time, but here’s where things turned bad.“Then the herald loudly proclaimed, `This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language. As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship immediately will be thrown into a blazing furnace.”’ v 4 - 6

Wow! That’s crazy! The king didn’t want people to come and simply admire his great creation. Nope! He wanted it to be worshipped. That’s seriously messed up. And he didn’t say that only Babylonians were to bow down to this idol. Nope again! This was for every single person in his entire kingdom. He gave no religious accommodations! This was a one-size fits all, everybody has to do it kind of mandate. For our exiled Jews living in captivity in Babylon, this edict was in direct opposition to God’s laws.

“‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 26:1

Bowing down, no matter how easy it might seem, would be a sin. They would be setting up an idol before God. And just so we don’t miss this point, what is an idol anyway? The dictionary definition is a false god or something that is worshipped. But for practical purposes, anything or anyone that you place as more important than God is an idol. A job, a relationship, a child, a spouse, a hobby, celebrity, etc., these all can be idols in our lives.

The heat is about to get turned up tomorrow on our heroes. Stay tuned!

Questions:

1. Is there something or someone you have in your life that you put ahead of God?

2. Have you been asked to do something you knew was contrary to God’s law? What did you do?

3. Why do you think the punishment was so severe?