“Let Him
Deliver Us”
Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to
King Nebuchadnezzar, “O King, live forever! You, O
king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the
sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum,
and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue, and
whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of
blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs
of the
Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage
commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those
man before the king. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I
have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe,
lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble
to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you
do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire,
and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we
have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your
hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not
worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with
rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the
furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the
strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of
blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their
trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the
furnace of blazing fire. Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace
was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But the
three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was
astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three
men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.”
He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and
they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.”
Daniel 3:8-25
All of us struggle with anger. But anger is not always wrong. You can be angry and not sin, if you know what you are doing is right in the eyes of God. Anger, based on our own self-interest is another thing. If our temper gets the best of us, we can lose control of what we say and do.
When we begin to put others first, we
may find we have taken a first step toward managing our anger.
When a
person’s anger gets the best of him,
it often reveals the
worst of him.
Our Daily
Bread –