Devotional Tuesday: Boldness
Boldness in God will make the world angry
14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:14–20 (ESV)
Boldness will make the world angry.
I love this story. I really do.
My prayer is that my life will reflect the boldness of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Those filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Jesus must expect this kind of boldness present in their lives. (“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faced with a choice—stand boldly to honor God or bow to the cultural powers of their day.
Naturally, they choose boldness.
Why would this be natural?
It was [and is] natural because those who truly follow God AND are empowered with his Spirit receive a supernatural boldness directly from God to stand strong. Those empowered by the Spirit of God are built on the Solid Rock which will withstand any storm.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego boldly proclaim their faith in God.
“our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
My favorite line from this story is their response at the beginning of v18.
“But if not…”
I like how the CSB translates this passage opening… “But even if he does not rescue us…” Even if he does not rescue us, we will not abandon the Lord.
True boldness… In the face of death, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have the audacity to boldly defy the commands of the king.
This makes the king angry. He was furious.
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.
So angry that he didn’t just want them to die, he wanted to prove a point. He decided kill them in a way that would prove he was in control. Make the death hotter. Make it a statement to anyone else who thinks they can be bold in front of me the king.
Boldness in God will always anger the world.
Boldness in God is unnatural to the world because we are only naturally bold in our own selves—mainly our own sinful flesh. Yet, those who have the boldness of the Holy Spirit, they find boldness does not come from them. Rather, their boldness comes from God—supernaturally, independent of our own self.
This frustrates the world. It frustrates them for a couple reasons:
They don’t understand this holy boldness.
This holy boldness convicts them.
The world will never be able to understand the boldness of God. They do not know him. Thus, they cannot understand his ways.
As a fairly logical person, I often get frustrated when I cannot understand something. I will spend loads of time trying to understand a process in order to understand the outcome. I love shows like “How It’s Made” because I understand how a product came to be.
When you see how something is made, you understand it. You can see it come together. I get frustrated when I have no idea how something works or came to be.
We are frustrated by things we don’t understand.
That is why following God is challenging and requires lots of faith. This frustrates the world because they do not understand God.
Boldness in God also frustrates the world because it convicts them of their choices or way of living.
Nebuchadnezzar is angry because their boldness implies his power is insignificant. His pride is hurt. They should be worshiping him and obeying his command. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego convict him of his pride.
Their boldness convicts him of his choice to seek power, worship, and control.
Application:
Our Christian faith will always frustrate the world around us.
Our stances on sin, sexuality, social issues, leadership, accountably, rest, equality, humility, etc… will always upset the world around us.
In America—and the broader West—we have become accustomed to having the church carry influence and power in the political world or general populous. This is not going to stay the case. We must learn AND accept that our boldness in God will continually cause the world to become frustrated with our choice to submit to God.
In love and humility, may we hold tightly our allegiance to God—entrusting him with the outcome of our lives. Boldness in God alone—not doctrines, denominations, churches, platforms, agendas, or nations—will give us boldness to stand in the midst of the coming storms in our lives.
In the face of an angry world, may we have boldness to humbly cry out, God will rescue us, but even if does not, we will never abandon him.