“I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up” (NLT).

“We don’t need to defend ourselves…” I was recently presented with an opportunity to defend myself. I was lied about. The lie hurt, perhaps more than normal because the person who lied about me was someone I care deeply for. Everything in me wanted to rush in and defend myself – to prove what was said was a lie. The Lord wrestled with me about my desire to defend myself. We have a choice, the choice either to defend ourselves or to let God defend us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were presented with this same choice. Good old Nebuchadnezzar had erected a monumental statue and commanded all to bow down and worship it. The punishment for not worshiping the statue was a horrifying death in the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar knew these three men. They had been working in his royal service, performing miracles and worshipping God. Nebuchadnezzar would have known that these three men would not bow a knee to anyone else except their own God. Yet, he insisted on them bending low to him and his golden statue. “O Nebuchadnezzar,” they said – I can just imagine the smile and knowing expressions on their faces as they spoke – “we do not need to defend ourselves before you.” It is our natural inclination to defend ourselves. It is much harder to completely surrender our will to defend ourselves than it is to lay our defense in the hands of another. It takes a great deal of trust and a willingness to lose. Yet, even Jesus, when faced with the death penalty of the cross, led by example, choosing not to defend Himself but rather, choosing to completely trust in God’s ability to save.

Courage to be obedient… However, surrendering your right to defend yourself comes at a price. The price is obedience. To be obedient to God may mean doing the hard and uncomfortable thing. It may also mean losing out on what you want in order to do what God wants. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood tall as they declared their complete trust in the Lord and their unwavering obedience to Him: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he does not, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Obedience to God comes when we have arrived at a place of surrender, when we have become willing to lose everything for His sake. They knew that as soon as they answered, the king would have them thrown into the fire. Their lives would be lost. They were not certain God would save them from the fire. God made no lofty promise to come and save them. All they had was absolute resolve – conviction – to honor God by their obedience even if it meant death. I chose not to defend myself against the lies that were spoken about me, because God showed me that, in defending myself, I would end up hurting the person I cared for even more. To completely surrender my will and right to defend myself and put it in God’s hands was one of the most difficult things I have done; even so, God gave me peace about this decision. The aftermath would be difficult. It would be a fiery furnace of its own; but I believe that out of my obedience to God, He will be able to defend me – and save me – in more powerful ways.

Nebuchadnezzar, in his absolute foolishness and pride, said to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, “And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?” This is exactly what the Devil tells us when he wants us to bow down to him. We bow down to him every time we chose not to obey God, when we chose not to trust God in a certain area of our life, or to sin in any other number of ways. The Devil gets us to believe his sneaky lies by putting a giant fiery furnace right in front of us. In that moment, he hopes the sheer size, weight, and threat of the furnace will be enough to get us to take our eyes off Jesus and put them on the fire. This is nothing more than a fear tactic, pleading to our own selfish desire for control and our unwillingness to lay down and surrender. What is the fire you are being faced with today? Be assured, the Devil is telling you God is not big enough to save you from that fire. The deeper question at stake here is not “what god can save you?” – but – “are you willing to lose it all for Christ?”

The passage hits on an extremely hard realism presented in the life of faith. The realism is the knowledge that God can – that He is able – but that ultimately, we cannot know what God will do. However, there is something we can know for certain, the same thing that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew, and that is the character of God. “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed” (Mark 1:40-42 NLT). God is a God who is moved with compassion – a deep love that is ready to go into action on our behalf. He is a God who is willing.

God did not save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from having to go into the fire. God may not save you or I from having to go into the fire. In fact, our obedience to God may take us into the fire more often than not. It was in the fire that their chains melted and fell off. It was in the fire that God appeared to them in person. No, God may not save you from the fire, but God will always walk through the fire with you, just like He did with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He saved them from the harm of the flames, and he used it to set them free from their chains. “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” Surely, God is willing to walk with you through the fire and save you from within it; but, are you willing to lose it all for Christ?