WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20
Scripture: Daniel 3:1-7

The two most well-known Sunday School stories involving Daniel and his friends illustrate perfectly just how strong these youth grew up to be in their faith. We all know how God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the fiery furnace, but sometimes the details of what led them into the furnace get lost in the magnificence of the saving. King Nebuchadnezzar was famously narcissistic, not unlike some of the politicians and celebrities we have today. He set up a massive statue made of pure gold in the midst of a plain near the city of Babylon. While the Bible does not explicitly say that the statue was of Nebuchadnezzar, the fact that God had to take his sanity for a number of years in order to humble him, we can assume that it could very well have been. After Nebuchadnezzar set up the statue, he assembled his administrators, magistrates and wise men and commanded them to bow down and worship it. Among all those assembled, only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused. The lone three standing when all others were prostrating before the idol was a powerful symbol of resistance and one that has been used throughout the centuries to strengthen the resolve of believers in times of persecution or trial.