When I first heard the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace (see Daniel 3) as a child, it left a lasting impression. The mental picture of the experience of these young Hebrew men, condemned to death by fire if they didn’t worship the idol that King Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up but emerging completely unhurt, was both terrifying and inspiring to me. I wondered if I would ever have the courage they’d had or the faith in God that gave them that courage. 

I was most impressed with their answer to the king just before they were thrown into the flames: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Their devotion to serving God, no matter what, really moved me.

Over the years since, I have thought deeply about their unshakable trust in God, good, as the only power and about how their wisdom and moral courage in taking such a stand eliminated fear, opening the way for them to experience God’s protection. And, in fact, the account says that Nebuchadnezzar himself acknowledged that the three were unhurt because “the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego . . . delivered his servants that trusted in him.”