Articles
Faithfulness To The LORD
Faithfulness To The LORD
"I am the LORD your God. You shall not make for yourself a carved image… You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God…" (Ex. 20:1-5). The problem was not that Israel didn't understand the commandment; they simple chose to make and serve idols. It doesn't matter WHY they chose such, it was wrong. God had put up with this continually since they came out of Egypt. During the dark days of Ahab and Jezebel, idolatry almost destroyed the true worship of the LORD. Now, as punishment for generations of such flagrant transgression of this foundational law, God will destroy the nation of Judah and cast the people into Babylonian captivity.
Some of the first to go into captivity was Daniel and his three friends. While their given names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, most people only remember their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. We see three young men now in a foreign land away from all family, friends, and community. Yet, God was there. No matter where they went, Psalm 139 had taught them that God was there! God's law for them didn't change just because their locality had changed. So, they stayed faithful to the LORD.
They soon discovered such faithfulness isn't easy. We read in the third chapter of Daniel, that the great king Nebuchadnezzar made a huge golden image that was 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. It stood as tall as a 7 to 9 story building. Then the king brought all of the important people of the kingdom together to have a public worship of this idol. The worship carried all the pomp and circumstance that the King could produce. Such worship was backed by the decree of the King and disobedience was punishable by death. It would have been EASY to just give in and bow the knee to the idol.
You all know the story. These three refused to worship the idol. They were threatened and then, when they yet refused the king's command, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. We often focus our attention on the fact that God did protect them and they lived to tell about it. I find more instructive their attitude about facing such punishment. They bravely faced the King and stated that "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (3:17-18). It wasn't a matter of whether God WOULD save them or not. They confessed that they didn't know what God would do about their situation. They made their decision on the principle of right and wrong. God said NOT TO, therefore we will NOT worship the idol. Period. Let come what may.
Few of us will ever face such a daunting situation that tries our faithfulness to God. Instead we face multitudes of lesser situations. Faithfulness is faithfulness. It is faithfulness in 'small things' that produces faithfulness in 'big things'. When we prove unfaithful to 'small issues' we have been proven unfaithful. It would be good if we could be found faithful even as these three godly young men were. We need to learn to make our decisions based upon right and wrong according to what God has said and not on the basis of popularity, group pressure, or even king's decrees.
"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).
Hugh DeLong
