Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Daniel 3: Fear and Faith?

I continued in Daniel reading the 3rd chapter. This chapter tells us about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were thrown into a blazing furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue. After being bound and thrown into the furnace, which was burning at a rate 7 times greater than normal, Nebuchadnezzar looked in to see four men walking around. It was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and another supernatural being. The original three walked from the fire and were unharmed. Even their clothes were unsinged.

Reading this got me to thinking about faith. After learning they would be thrown into the fire the three replied, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God of whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up" (Daniel 3:17-18).

That is some serious faith. Not only that, but the Bible records no fear from the three. I wonder if they were scared at all? This led me to wonder if we can be fearful of our future and still have faith that God will protect us? The Bible tells us to fear only God. Moses fled from Egypt without fearing reprisal from the King (Hebrews 11:27). Perhaps to have true faith in God we must NOT fear man. What can man do that God cannot undo? NOTHING!

Another thing that was brought to my attention was the fact that the Bible tells us of many idols and religions that were created by Kings for their own good. I am not an expert in Church history by any stretch of the imagination, but I was wondering if Christianity can be traced back to one person who created the idea of God to further their own goals? (I would argue NO) If it cannot be traced to such a person, like other religions, then how can detractors of Christianity say that Christianity is "made up" or "all in your head"?

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 19:3
"People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord."

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