“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” – Daniel 3:17-18
We must never compromise our faithful obedience to God, no matter the pressure or threats that face us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were threatened with fiery death if they wouldn’t bow down and worship the king’s statue. These words were their response.
While they were completely confident that God was capable of saving them from death and thwarting the king’s will, they also understand that He might not choose to do that. Nonetheless, they weren’t going to compromise their faith and integrity to protect themselves. They were at peace with doing the right thing to glorify and obey God, no matter the consequences to themselves.
As we follow Jesus, we must admit that there are aspects of doing so which are increasingly out of step with the prevailing views of our culture. That will likely continue to increase and the cost of that is likely to become significant – after all the prevailing culture of the day killed Jesus. As followers of Jesus, now is the time to commit to follow Him regardless of cost or consequence.
We must never bow to kings or to culture. We mustn’t be squishy about believing the Bible. Let us consider it an honor to follow Jesus into the fiery furnace, regardless of whether or not He chooses to rescue us from it.