Daniel 3

So, King Nebuchadnezzar had a huge statue built, as high as the lighthouse on Saint Simons Island. You couldn’t miss it! Then, the decree went out – you WILL bow down to this idol, or die.

You probably know the story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow. When everyone else hit the ground when the music played, those three young men stood tall. They must have stood out like those brave athletes who refuse to bend a knee during the National Anthem. Kind of hard to miss.

Got me to thinking about other formidable idols being erected today: transgenderism, homosexual marriage, pronouns, abortion, climate change, COVID, socialism, progressive Christianity, wokeness…

Lots of idols there!

In fact, there are so many it seems people are walking on their knees, bowing here, bowing there. They exist in a constant state of surrender to this idol, and to that. Less and less people are standing tall.

The threat of punishment is real. And getting more real every day. So what’s a person to do?

Look at this portion of Scripture. You’ll find the answer. Those brave young men were able to stand strong because they truly trusted God. They trusted God whether they lived or died. They trusted God whether they were heading for hardship, or whether God would deliver them. They trusted God.

The result was, they were thrown into the fire with the intent it would kill them. But the fire didn’t kill them, did it? In fact, the fire didn’t even touch them even though they were walking right in it. And… the most amazing part of it… Jesus was right there walking in the fire with them. The king and his men actually saw Jesus in the fire with them. They saw Jesus.

So many of us don’t let Jesus do that for us. And sadly, we don’t allow Jesus to be seen by those who want us to surrender to their idols.

We surrender to the idol of transgenderism when we call a woman “him” because she mutilates her body and pretends to be male. We bow to the idol of progressive Christianity when we sing the songs that glorify our own feelings, when we accept the downplaying of sin in favor of “love.” We bow at the feet of government when we allow ourselves to be manipulated into closing the doors of our churches, keeping ourselves quarantined and isolated, wearing masks that do nothing but make us fall into line, and putting untested chemicals in our bodies because someone erects the idol of “science.”

We’ve all done it. We bow, and keep bowing to idols unseen, yet as real as Nebuchadnezzar’s giant idol in ancient Babylon where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow. Can we join together, support one another, and change that?

Let’s stand on the Truth God has revealed in His Word, exactly as He has revealed it in His Word. Let’s not fear those who would have us bow to the prince of this world, because…

greater is He who is in you than the one who is in the world! (1 John 4:4)