The story is well known: the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, wasn't emotionally stable, and a time came when he set up a huge golden idol, requiring everyone in the land to bow down and worship it. Three teenage boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to worship the image, and so the king told them that they would be thrown into a blazing furnace and burned to death.
Young as they were, those three boys spoke out their faith in God (vs 17): "If we are thrown into the furnace, your Majesty, the God we serve is able to rescue us from it." They were convinced that God was powerful enough to do a miracle for them.
However, it's what they say in vs 18 that is even more striking to me: "But even if He doesn't save us, He is still worthy of our worship. We will not bow down to your idol."
Wow! What unconditional allegiance from those teenage boys. They knew beyond a doubt that their God was able to save them, but they were committed to keep following Him, even if He didn't. No strings attached!
How often we hear the opposite nowadays:
"God, if you'll just prove yourself to me, then I'll follow you."
"Jesus, if you get me out of this terrible situation, I promise I'll serve you."
"Lord, if you answer this prayer, I'll believe that you're real."
How presumptuous of us, to think that we can bargain with God and lay down conditions that suit us! We can learn so much from the radical allegiance of those young boys, who were willing to follow God, no strings attached, quite simply because He is God and He deserves our wholehearted allegiance.
Of course, we know the end of the story. God did do an amazing miracle for them.... which led Nebuchadnezzar to recognise and proclaim that, "There is no other god who can rescue like this."
We consider them heroes because of their courage and the miracle they experienced. But I think the real courage was shown in the fact that they loved God unconditionally and were willing even to die for Him.
