Daniel 3:17-18 - Summer of Scripture

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The Dick's app for quick pickup or delivery. Visit dicksportinggoods.com to shop this year's best holiday gifts at Dick's. Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan for your marriage. We encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's Scripture. Hey friends, welcome to day 27 of Summer of Scripture. We are in the Book of Daniel today. Daniel's one of the first characters I remember learning about in the Bible back in the flannel graph days when in Sunday school they would just put these little cartoon characters on the board and show him they were fun, you know, getting ready to get eaten by lions. Daniel and the lions then. Great story. That's not the story we're going to focus on with today's verse, though. I love this verse, which is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these three young Hebrew guys that refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar because a law was made that anybody who wouldn't bow down to this big idol that he had created would be thrown into this fiery furnace and killed. And they said, well, King, we'll serve you any way that we can, but we cannot go against our faith and our conscience by bowing to anyone other than our God, the God of the Bible. And as they were about to be thrown in, this is what they said and this is what real faith sounds like. Daniel 3:17, 18 if we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your Majesty. But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, you, Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the golden statue you've set up. I love that is faith that God can say he has the power to save me from this, but even if he doesn't, I'm going to Serve him. There's a powerful song from Mercy Me called Even if it's so powerful that, I mean, I just, you know, I teared up the first several times I heard it. And it's really going through this story, talking about struggles in our own life. Like, God, I know you could deliver me from this struggle right now, but even if you don't, my hope is you alone. And beautiful song, beautiful truth.

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Man, it is. And, you know, I know a lot of you listening and watching, you've walked through those just moments that take your breath away and make you just tremble inside and want to. I mean, like, because it's like a life or death situation, and you've been there. Like, you've maybe been there where you're, like, just crying out to God, like, God, please rescue me. Rescue this person. Change the situation. But even if you don't, I'm gonna praise you. And I mean, that's a desperate prayer. But also, there's so much courage and faith. I mean, just such a. There's so much faith demonstrated in that. And I wanna just point out, too, with those verses. And I don't know if y' all were into VeggieTales ever. I don't know if they. I think they have a remake of VeggieTales now, but when our kids were little, our older two kids who are now, you know, 16 and 18, VeggieTales, it was one of our favorites that we would play for them. And there is an story. You know, they tell the story of Daniel in the lion's den, and also this story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Like, in. In, like, such a cool way that demonstrates it. And I just remember them playing this out. But one thing that really struck me about these three guys is how they stood. They stood up for their faith, but they addressed the king still very respectfully.

Yeah.

And so they were fulfilling their position. You know, they were honoring his authority.

And honoring him, but not to the that. But God is their ultimate Authority.

Exactly, exactly. And there are people even today that want to be like, you know, on veggie tells, they called him Neb King Neb, I think, but that he, you know, that they want to have. There's people, maybe your boss or maybe even a family member that wants to be like God to you. Like, they want ultimate authority over your life. And we have got to be like these three guys and have, you know, the faith, but also the audacity of faith to say, listen, I respect you, and if it's a family member, I love you. If it's a boss, I'm glad to work for you, but I can't do whatever it is they're asking you to do because God is my ultimate authority. And maybe it's that they're asking you to compromise on your beliefs. Maybe they're asking you to do something that you're like, that's just not something I'm okay with. Or maybe they're just trying to take up too much space in your life that is trying to edge God out in your life. Um, again, we have to stand up, put boundaries in place, and be like these three guys. And, you know, we've. We've talked about this before. I mean, this could be. What does this look like? I mean, it could be like, in unhealthy in law relationships. Again, we have a book you can pre order right now called I just forgot. Married into the Family. That's right. We went through several different titles, Married into the Family. And it goes through all of this how to establish these boundaries in a loving but also very clear way for people that maybe are. Are wanting to have, you know, too much control over your life and it's thus hurting, you know, maybe your marriage. But also, I think that this really does apply to, like, I think work situations is where I see this the most. You know, we've had many people write us, like, well, I'll use this one story. I remember years ago, we got a message from a lady who said her husband is a male nurse. And so he's mainly around, you know, a lot of ladies in the nursing field. And he said he would come home and he'd be so, like, discouraged. And the wife said, when he's at work, you know, he won't get alone with any ladies because he's just trying to protect his marriage because he's around so many women and they have started making fun of him, like, because he put that boundary in place. These ladies are just relentlessly, like, just making his life hard at work. Saying derogatory things, making fun of him. And, like, I mean, it was really very childish that what she described. But it was to the point where he said he might even get out of the field. Like, it was so bad and so nasty that these ladies were like, who do you think you are? Oh, you think you're so, you know, this and that. That we're gonna, like, you know, you're gonna, you know, have to put all these protections in place and this and that. And she was like, how do we deal with this? How do we stand up for Christian marriage? And I just told her, too. I said, you know, you got it. Maybe if it's just so tumultuous, maybe it is time to find a new job, you know, if it's gonna be such a nasty environment. But I think we have to draw that line in the sand and say, no, I' and I love people, but this is what I stand for. I'm not doing this to make you look bad or because I have any negative assumptions about you. I'm putting boundaries in place because I love God and serve God and because I also love my spouse and wanna protect my marriage. It takes making those kind of proclamations. I mean, sometimes it takes actually saying it that way. I think there's ways along the way. I mean, that was a more dire situation. I think most of the time you can just kind of, in the way that you're living and, you know, you can put out those kind of vibes, so to speak, that this is what I stand for.

Well, and in the book of Daniel, we see that over and over with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and then Daniel himself. Yes, these guys that were countercultural and that they were going to stand with God's values and really a godless society. But because of their integrity, even though they did face real persecution, they ultimately got promoted and elevated because, you know, God elevated them. And people started recognizing that that integrity was a real gift. And I think that God will eventually elevate all of us who choose to live with integrity and not compromise on our faith, but also be respectful, as respectful as we can within the structures that we live in. And so a lot of great lessons in Daniel. I encourage you to read the whole book. There's some great prophecy in Daniel pointing to the coming son of man, who, again, is Jesus. All of scripture is pointing to Jesus. So check that out and join us tomorrow. We're on day 28 and we can't wait to see you. Then we'll be in the Book of Hosea.