Daniel 3:15-18
I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
It’s been 27 years since I taught public school kindergarten…and probably 30 years since the incident I am about to describe actually happened… but I remember it like it was yesterday. An administrator for our school district was observing a lesson that I taught one morning. Our school district was something of the “guinea pig” for every new program that came down the pike. This time, it was a program on assertive discipline. The woman who visited my classroom was doing “blind observations.” She did not know which teachers had attended the trial classes in assertive discipline… and which had not (and for the record, I was in the latter category!). As I began my lesson, a little boy named Marice began to “show out.” I warned him that a trip to “time out” was eminent. He persisted. I placed him in said “time out,” which consisted of a little nook in a corner of the classroom with a chair for sitting, separated from the rest of the room by a tall file cabinet. Think of it as a “3-sided box.”
I placed Marice in “time out.” He protested… loudly. I continued my lesson. He screamed and yelled, “I hate you! I’m never coming back!” I continued to deliver my lesson and interact with the other students as if nothing was amiss. Marice continued to shout, kick the filing cabinet, and protest… although he never left the corner. At the end of his ten minutes, the timer I had set began to ring, and I told him that he could return to his seat. The administrator later told me (as she shook her head), “I do not know how you did it! I could not have handled that!” I suggested to her that it was a matter of choices. The little boy chose to misbehave, and I gave him a chance to correct his behavior. By choosing to continue his actions, he elected to suffer consequences. I opted to enforce those consequences.
I could have “caved” and let him off the hook. I could have said, “We have a guest here today, and I don’t want to make a scene.” But I knew that this would not be the right option… this would not be productive for any of us in the long term. So I chose to grit my teeth and endure the 10 minutes of “time out” that was somewhat torturous for everyone. In the end, the little boy – and the other students – realized that I meant business. The rules were to be followed, or there would be consequences.
So often in our lives, there are “rules” that must be followed and choices that must be made, or we suffer consequences. In the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, there were two sets of rules - God’s, and King Nebuchadnezzar’s. To follow the king’s rules would save them from the fiery furnace. To follow God’s rules could possibly result in burning to death, which is not my idea of a pleasant way to go! I don’t know about you, but I would not have been able to blame these men if that threat had caused them to succumb to the pressure and say, “Okay, we will bow down to your idols.”
Here’s the thing…there are times when it would be so easy to say, “I just can’t do this. It’s too hard. I’m not sure exactly what will happen if I say ‘No!’… but I just can’t take that risk. I don’t think I can handle this.” But here’s the more important part… when we can’t handle a choice that we know God is calling us to make, we must trust Him to step in and do the hard work for us. We have to believe that He will carry us… that God will handle whatever pain and disruption our hard choice creates… that He will be there to rescue us from our “fiery furnace.”
I’m telling you… this is H.A.R.D. for me to digest – and it may be for you, as well. Like the administrator, there are times where I want to throw up my hands and say, “I simply cannot do this!” But I keep hearing God whisper, “Why can’t you? I’m right here with you. If you will listen and stay strong, I will show you that together, we can do this!” Does this mean that certain choices are no longer scary… that there aren’t times when I feel nauseous and anxious and wring my hands over the options I choose? Absolutely not! But my desire to follow God’s lead and serve Him is bigger than my fears… at least so far! What about yours?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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