✿ Lovely Panda Mom ✿

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Looking for Christian topics to blog about, I came across a prompt: your favorite people in the Bible. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego immediately came to mind. Although I can’t even say their names, I always remember something that they said.

The setting is this: King Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that everyone who heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold he created, and anyone who did not fall down and worship would be thrown into a blazing furnace (Daniel 3:10-11).

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to do this (they worshipped only God) and somebody snitched. They would be thrown into the blazing furnace.

And how did they react? What did they say?

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.

But wait!!! Here is the part that I like the most:

But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

That’s from Daniel 3:17-18 NIV.

But even if he does not.

I like that. “But even if he does not.” This isn’t a group of people happy to worship God until life got rough (and can it get any rougher than heading into a burning furnace??). These were people of faith who understood that, no matter what happens in life, it doesn’t mean that God has forgotten about us, or that He doesn’t love us.

This is why I get so irked by Joel Osteen preaching “Your healing is coming!” and other things that make it sound like: if you just have enough faith, life will be perfect ✨ That isn’t God’s promise, that is Joel’s promise and it has no value. Because life isn’t perfect, no matter how much faith we have. Things go wrong. We all suffer at one point or another.

And if it is God’s sovereign will, He will deliver us from the suffering and set us straight again.

But even if He does not, He still loves us and our faith should hold strong.

Now, I don’t know if I have the kind of faith these men do. Put me next to a fiery furnace and I probably won’t speak so boldly and confidently. And that is why they’re some of my favorite people in the Bible: I admire their courage, their knowledge of God’s promises, and their immense faith!

Take care and God bless!

Yari, the ✿ Lovely Panda Mom ✿

17 comments

  1. Well done, Panda. I love the story of these 3 towering men and have also written on it. I like your comparison with their defiant stand in the face of death with that of the modern-day huckster, Joel Osteen.

    Like you, I don’t know what I’d do if placed next to a fiery furnace, but these 3 men sure left the greatest example of what to do in the face of denying one’s faith, or losing one’s life for not denying it!

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  3. “Because life isn’t perfect, no matter how much faith we have.” – So true!!! Lovely to read about what inspires you about these people, and side note: I knew someone years ago named Shadrach, and wondered where the name came from. Now I know!

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  4. Argh…”if you just have enough faith…” I believe to be a tactic/lie of the enemy. If you just have enough faith… you can overcome this addiction…you will have enough money…you will find true love…etc. etc. etc.

    I’m gonna say a non-Christian word now. Bullshit.

    But wait, isn’t it biblical?? Jesus told his disciples that if they only had the faith of a mustard seed, they could move mountains. Right? My questions are as follows. 1) Is there any recording of any disciple ever moving a mountain, boulder, rock, or pebble by faith?? The answer is NO. Why the hell not, if all it took was faith? 2) Did Jesus ever speak to anyone with the intent of SHAMING them into having more faith?? Another hell no.

    So, what did that parable mean?

    Jesus was well aware of the little faith his most trusted disciples had. Let alone us “ordinary folk” who didn’t get the privilege of walking with him, physically, for years. He was saying, I think, that NO ONE has enough faith. And, that’s okay. We can’t attain righteousness with our faith. We can’t faith ourselves into the Kingdom. He’s already done it for us. All we have to do is have whatever small / meager amount of faith we have, and trust He’s got us – regardless of circumstances. And yeah…EVEN IF He doesn’t save us from the fire. As Apostle Paul said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

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  6. I love things like this from ordinary Christians, as opposed to pastors, preachers etc. so refreshing.
    I remember the names in an odd way: Yoshack, Myshack and a bungalow. Probably why I’m not allowed near the pulpit.

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