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Faith in God's Will
by Jerold Aust
he powerful guards began binding Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego with ropes, and within seconds they threw the young men into the furnace. One moment they were relatively safe, even held in great esteem as officials in the government of Babylon. The next moment they were brutally tossed headlong into what seemed certain death in an inferno.
What went wrong? These three had faithfully obeyed their God, but their obedience was not being rewarded. They faced an ignominious death in the prime of their lives, with no one there to plead their cause. What a waste for such talented young men to lose their lives at such an early age.
What lessons, if any, are we to find in this tragic scenario? What can we learn from the example of these young men?
The Scriptures vividly picture this event and describe the events leading up to it. King Nebuchadnezzar found himself in a psychological and political struggle to protect his pride and power as ruler of Babylon.
Some were determined to rid the kingdom of the influence of the young Jewish captives—Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego and anyone else like them—who had been conscripted to serve their Babylonian captors when the kingdom of Judah fell. They would stop at nothing to see these young men removed from Nebuchadnezzar's government, even if it meant killing them.
By all appearances, their enemies had succeeded. These men knew that King Nebuchadnezzar had decreed the death penalty for any who refused to worship the enormous golden idol he had set up (Daniel 3:1-7). They knew that the young Jewish men remained faithful to their God and refused to bow to any idols. They brought to the attention of the monarch the three young men's disobedience to his decree.
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