Daniel: Does God Reign? Does God Care? - Reading PlanSample

Start with prayer, then watch the video and read Daniel 3.

I’ve loved this story ever since reading it in a picture book as a little boy. It’s tense, dramatic, and exciting. And yet, it can feel removed from our lives – when did you last face a life or death situation?

There is lots here that is applicable and relevant to our lives though. As we’ve seen in the film clip from our Daniel series, it shows us God is the ultimate power in our lives – not your boss, the government, or anyone else. This story is one of a series of stories in the first half of Daniel in which God clashes with the greatest powers in the world around us – and wins. The film series looks in more detail at how they all fit together, but the overall message is that God is in control in both our world and our lives.

That has big consequences for how we live our lives. We can often live as though God is the God of Sundays, but not Monday-Saturday. Or we assume there are things that are too much for God to ask of us. But if God is in control of it all, that can’t be right. As Christians, we are called to follow God in everything.

The three friends also recognise the difficult truth that sometimes God doesn’t deliver us – even though he can. They tell Nebuchadnezzar that even if God doesn’t rescue them, they still won’t worship the statue (v18). That’s a teaser for a big issue in the visions in the second half of the book, but also a reminder that we’re still called to follow God even when we don’t experience the miracles.

I’ve had so many conversations over the years in which someone (or me!) has explained away some action or omission in which they’ve subtly wandered away from God and his ways. “If I’d refused, I might have lost my job…” or “if I tell people about Jesus at work, I’ll get into trouble…” or “if I do that, it might put my friendship with that person at risk…”, even “I just don’t have time to….whatever…”. It seems so reasonable – until we read Daniel 3. Here the three friends are asked to risk everything for God – and they do. Is there anywhere you need to re-think and re-calibrate your commitment to God?