In the book of Daniel, we’re told that King Nebuchadnezzar built a huge statue of himself, and then commanded everyone to bow down and worship it (take a look at Daniel 3:1-6). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew they should only be worshipping God. But they also knew that if they refused, they’d be executed in a furnace. In spite of this, they made a decision to stand up for what was right, rather than bow down to what they knew was wrong. They chose to say to the king: ‘If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand’ (Daniel 3:17 NIV). Imagine having faith like this. Most of us could have come up with loads of rationalisations: ‘I’m bowing down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside’, or ‘I’ll ask for forgiveness straight after’, or ‘I’m no use to God if I’m dead’. But when we compromise our integrity, when we take matters into our own hands, we don’t leave room for God’s intervention. If Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had compromised their integrity and bowed to the statue, they would have missed out on the miracle that God was about to do for them. They would have forfeited their testimony by avoiding the test. They would have saved their lives, but sacrificed their integrity. And it was their integrity and their trust in God that allowed Him to show up and demonstrate His miraculous power. Their integrity paid off: ‘Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon’ (Daniel 3:30 NIV).
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