Light of Life Daily Devotional

Friday, 20th May 2022 

TOPIC:  TAKING RISKS FOR GOD

FOR READING & MEDITATION:  DANIEL 3:1-18.

1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet high and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon; 

2 then he sent messages to all the princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, and rulers of all the provinces of his empire, to come to the dedication of his statue. 

3 When they had all arrived and were standing before the monument, 

4 a herald shouted out, “O people of all nations and languages, this is the king’s command:

5 “When the band strikes up, you are to fall flat on the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue; 

6 anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a flaming furnace.”

7 So when the band* began to play, everyone—whatever his nation, language, or religion—fell to the ground and worshiped the statue.

8 But some officials went to the king and accused some of the Jews of refusing to worship!

9 “Your Majesty,” they said to him, 

10 “you made a law that everyone must fall down and worship the gold statue when the band* begins to play, 

11 and that anyone who refuses will be thrown into a flaming furnace. 

12 But there are some Jews out there—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you have put in charge of Babylonian affairs—who have defied you, refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you set up.”

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a terrible rage, ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in before him.

14 “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” he demanded, “that you are refusing to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I set up? 

15 I’ll give you one more chance. When the music plays, if you fall down and worship the statue, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown into a flaming furnace within the hour. And what god can deliver you out of my hands then?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not worried about what will happen to us. 

17 If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand, Your Majesty. 

18 But if he doesn’t, please understand, sir, that even then we will never under any circumstance serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have erected.”

MEDITATE 

Helen Adams Keller, the first American deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, a political activist and lecturer writes: “Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”. In John 12:25 Jesus says; “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal”.

Both our Lord Jesus Christ and this great legendary woman see life as a risky venture. We must risk our lives for the gospels' sake if we want God's kingdom to advance. The three Hebrew children in our text took that risky venture of defending their faith in the strange land they were living as slaves.

This seemingly insignificant Jews weren't afraid to say to king Nebuchadnezzar who indeed was the "king of kings" because he ruled over 127 kingdoms stretching from India to Ethiopia. They seem to be saying in effect that; “we respect you but we are not going to disobey God because of you”.  What a sharp contrast to some of us Christians today who, under the slightest pressure can readily sell our consciences, deny God and compromise our high and holy calling in order to get one perishable benefit or the other. But that was not so with the Hebrew boys.  They chose to place their jobs and lives on the line in defence of their faith. 

They risked all in obedience to God and eventually were delivered from sinful conformity and from the furnace by the power of grace. If we want such deliverances from God and if we want to experience God's grace at work in our lives and endeavours, we must be willing to lay down our lives and to put them all on the altar of sacrifice because of the kingdom of God. Indeed if God be for us, we need not fear what man can do unto us for God will deliver us either from death, or in death. I want you to know that God leaves you no option; it is either we serve Him with all of our hearts, minds, spirits and strength or don’t serve Him at all. If you are lukewarm in love, God will spit you out of His mouth. No language is able, and no compassions possible, to explain how fully and how deeply we are loved.

VERSE OF THE DAY: “…Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied, oh! Nebuchadnezzar, we are not worried about what will happen to us" (Daniel 3:16 TLB).

QUOTE: “No language is able, and no compassions possible, to explain how fully and how deeply we are loved”.

PRAYER: Lord, I am encouraged by the boldness of these three Hebrew children. Let this lion-hearted boldness that I see in them possess me also as I commit myself to propagating the gospel of the Kingdom. Amen.

AUTHOR: Rev William Okoye