The cold months of winter are behind us and much around us is flourishing, yet we are faced with many problems in our city and nation. Indeed, we are enjoying the life that is sprouting around us in plants, trees and gardens.
As I think about life in the natural, I think about our spiritual lives as the body of Christ. What is our response to the problems we are facing? Have we flourished to the point of taking authority over the crime that continues to reign?
I have been meditating on Daniel 3 and have not been able to get away from its powerful testimony of three men who had truly flourished – wholly given their hearts to God – in their relationship with God and the victory they experienced.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king, wants to be worshipped. There is a tremendous penalty for failure to comply with his command. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to comply because of their close relationship with the true God, Jehovah, and their determination to obey him at all costs.
As a result, they are thrown into the midst of a fiery furnace. They enter the fire with worship. The fire is turned up seven times hotter to ensure their death; even the men who took them to the furnace are killed.