February 12, 2019: Day 73 – Daniel 3

This is a situation where I always thought that Daniel was with his friends when they were thrown into the fire.  As I read this chapter I notice that Daniel was not one of the ones who was thrown into the fire.  On Friday during chapel I did the story of Daniel and the lion’s den, not of the fire, and I’m pretty sure Daniel was part of the lion story, but we are not there yet.

So, back to this chapter.  These men of Israel refused to worship the king as god.  In fact, they told him that he might as well throw them into the furnace as was according to his decree if he wanted them to stop.  They were not going to stop worshiping the God of Israel because of a decree of he king.  So, he threw them in there and was so excited about it that he ended up killing some of his guards because the fire was so hot.

I love how he calls them the servants of the most high and then says “Blessed be the God” of the men that he threw in the furnace.  This was a life changing experience which prompted a counter decree that prohibited any blasphemy against the God of Israel.  This is quite a turn around from where we were before this.  They were also promoted in the provinces of Babylon where they served.  What a great day all around for these three men who were faithful to the God of Israel.