Today was part the deux of our study on the book of Daniel, so we focused mainly on chapters 5-12. In Sunday School, we're going through the books of the Bible, taking each week (sometimes two) to look at a different book in the order they are composed in our Bible.
A recurring story that Daniel (the author of the book) relays to us is that of these three Hebrew guys. You've probably heard of them: Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. But oh! You probably know of them by their new names, the names that were changed when King Nebuchednezzer (the king of Babylon, who was ruling over the Hebrews, God's people at this place in history) decided to take some Hebrew boys and train them up to follow the Babylonian ways. Kind of like Hitler, if you think about. "If we can train up the enemies' children to follow our ways, we can take over the world!" So back to these three Hebrew fellas. Their Babylonian names, which they're mostly referred to as, are Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego.
These guys find themselves in a tough position. They have to decide whether they are going to bend to the Babylonians' ways, immersing themselves in Babylon's culture and religion, or if they will stay strong for the God of the Hebrews, the true God. Well,we could look throughout the book at the instances in which these guys made their decision, but we don't have time for that. I'll give you the short version: through fire, through turmoil, through the threat of death, these guys never denied their faith in the Lord. Despite not just an ungodly government, but an anti-God government, these guys stood strong, they remained firm.
Today, we live in a part of the world where we face an ungodly government. The government asks us to do things that would make us deny our faith in God. But should we still do it? Galatians 1:10 clears that up for us. Paul writes, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." Let's focus on standing firm in this area of the world, in which we live, and put all our strength in serving God, not man.