Prayer: Father, May I heed Your Word as the friends of Daniel did in his recorded account today. Your Word and Your commandments extend to future generations. Your words and commandments live forever and do not pass away. Amen.
Reading: Daniel 3 key: vs. 31-33 “King Nebuchadnezzar— To all peoples, nations and languages who dwell in all the earth: May your peace abound! It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that God Most High has done for me. How great are His signs, how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, His dominion from generation to generation.” TLV
Attention: When I read Daniel 3 and Daniel’s depiction of the “golden image” which everyone was to bow down to every time all the people of Babylon “heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and pipes, and all kinds of music,” I thought of an annual ritual performed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. According to Wikipedia, Oscars are awarded “in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy’s voting membership.”
I’m not implying that the “Golden Image” and the statuette of Oscar are equivalent. Oscar has, however, become a coveted symbolic award for the five branches of the Academy: writers, actors, directors, producers, and technicians. The Academy’s award night has become a platform for political activism, conveying their message via the airwaves (television) internationally.
When Daniel and his friends stood up to the king’s original decree to bow down, they were not being defiant, as the world would label them. They were being obedient to the King of kings, Adonai. Their obedience provided God the opportunity to show up and show off. God was with them in the midst of the fire (vs. 25).
From Nebuchadnezzar’s encounter with the living God, he declared the God of Daniel, as the “Most High.” There is no equivalent to God. There is no other like Him. He is the Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth. “His kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, His dominion from generation to generation.”
Nebuchadnezzar is acknowledging Daniel’s God as Supreme. His Supremacy is above all gods.
Could it be that when we are obedient, God intervenes and kings like Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge Adonai as God to “all peoples, nations and languages who dwell on all the earth?”
Action: I choose to be obedient to Adonai, providing Him the opportunity to show His might and do wonders.
Yield: I choose to submit in obedience to the God above all gods.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in being obedient to God’s commands.
Relationship: I choose to live in humble, intimate obedience to God.
Memory Verse: Daniel 3:25 “But he (King Nebuchadnezzar) answered saying, “Look! I see four men walking about unbound and unharmed in the middle of the fire, and the fourth has the appearance like a son of the gods!” TLV
Music Video: TAYA—Hillsong United https://youtu.be/WUSsEo52-a0?si=K9IAFSOD6K72xzPQ
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”