What to do When Things Don’t Go Your Way
By: Randi Short
Scripture: Read about the lives of these three young men in Daniel 1 – Daniel 3
Scripture doesn’t say much about these three young men but we can be sure in reading about them in the 3 chapters of Daniel that they were young men who wouldn’t let go of their faith in God – no matter the consequences.
Let’s look!!! In the first chapter we learn that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were important people from the royal family and the nobility – they were young men without physical defeat, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand and qualified to serve in the kings palace (vs.3-4). We look at it from this side and everything seems to be going good for these men. However these young men were Israelites being forced into Babylonian ways. They were being taught the language and literature (vs.4) and being assigned the new names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Babylonian names). You see, before they were given new names they had names of Jewish faith – Hananiah, (Shadrach); Mishael, (Meshach); and to Azariah, (Abednego). The King thought he could strip these young men of everything to do with the Israelites and ultimately – God. However, God was on their side – verse 17 says that God gave them knowledge. These men were then appointed as administrators over the province of Babylon (2:49). These are friends of Daniel and because Daniel interprets a dream and gets promoted, the astrologers tell of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for not bowing to King Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. King Nebby gets mad and questions them and tells them that if they don’t bow then they are going into the furnace. These three young men take a stand and 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 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.” The King gets men to throw these fully dressed and tied up, young men into the furnace which is heated 7 times hotter. Yet when the King looks in, he not only sees three men but he sees four, one of which looks like the Son of God, walking around in the furnace. Not just there, but they’re up and walking around, unbound and unharmed. Then the King lets them out and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk out of the fire, not even smelling of smoke. After that, King Nebby realized that the God which these three young men were serving, must be the One True God and even promotes Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to a higher position.
It’s obvious that things didn’t go to great for Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego. Sure they had some great things happen to them – but being stripped of all your beliefs, right down to your name and being thrown into a fire for not wanting to bow to an image. C’mon. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were definitely not having a good day.
But what is it that they did? They stood firm. They would not bow to the image that King Nebby had set up! And when questioned they said, you know what King – we have a God who is much bigger than you! If you throw us into the fire, He’ll save us and if He don’t – well we’re still not going to bow.
The greatest thing is that once they’re in the fire, God meets them there. I can imagine the furnace doors flying open and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego getting a glimpse of their Jesus and running towards Him, the bindings falling in the fire. And then they walk around in the furnace with Jesus. I wonder what they were talking about?! Could make for an interesting discussion once we get to heaven.
Another awesome thing is that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, the fourth man didn’t.
So, now that we’ve got a brief glimpse, what does it mean to us? It’s a fact that things will not always go right for us. Okay, so we might not have everything stripped from us including our name or be thrown into a fire, but daily, we are faced with things that make our day seem a little less. Family problems, friend problems, school problems, church problems, all problems. But the fact is, no matter what goes on – our God is one who can save us from it. He has the ability to – not saying he always will – but He does have the ability. The great thing is, whenever we’re in a fiery situation, God is there with us just like He was with these three young men in the fire. And the cool thing is, He never left the fire, so whenever we’re thrown back into it, He is still there to unbound us and walk around with us and talk to us.
So, whatever is going on in your life today, give it to God. Realize that He loves you and cares for you so much and doesn’t want to see you hurting, when He knows that He has the power to change it if we stand firm!
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