If you'd like to watch click on Pastor Squatch Musings!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Daniel 3:16–18, NKJV

Most Western Christians do not think of worshiping God as something that will put their lives at risk. Jews have known the risks often in history, and it is easy to read about the struggles of early Christians in the Bible and outside of it. We also know of the risks in other parts of the world, but there is a question we can ask ourselves: “How valuable is our worship?” How quickly do we allow things to get in the way of our worship? For the faithful exiles in Babylon, it would have been easier to “go along and get along” and quietly practice their faith in the shadows in clandestine places. However, we see Daniel and his friends openly defying the orders of a king because they know who truly the King in their lives was. As followers of Christ, we are called to hold dear to what is important and value our worship as the highest calling of our lives. We are meant to worship regularly in community and our daily lives. It is the lifestyle of faith to which we are all called and a new life to which we cling. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego it was worthy of them to pass through the fire and trust in God’s protection while knowing His peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.