Getting your tail handed to you on a platter, isn’t a lot of fun, let me tell you. Just weeks old in the Christian faith, full of over exuberance and filled with unbelievable joy and a new lease on life can be disconcerting to those around you. I had discovered God and was happy for all to know. But in my immaturity, I waded into some heavy conversations that I was ill prepared for.
Ganged up on. And as we sat around the lunch table, it was a hostile environment of work colleagues who were ready and willing to tear down every shred of evidence I had in regards to my new found belief. Each trying to turn me to their belief, whilst condemning me for speaking of my own.
…But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
Daniel 3:15
The occasional taunts throughout the day and barbs at times when I would speak or stand against certain behaviours – like getting smashed at lunch and killing an afternoon on the employers time, or talking crass about certain women, or how to cheat our expenses and steal from the employer, to name but a few.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18
But the one thing, that each would quietly and privately admit, was that my testimony remained sincere and could not be refuted. Quietly admired, but never publicly admitted.
I too, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, learnt that I didn’t need to defend my God, but to simply trust in Him and share honestly what I knew of Him and what He was doing in my life. God will always take care of the rest.
One by one, my work colleagues saw that this was not a passing fad and a respect for my belief grew. It didn’t stop the ragging from time to time, and I always saw it as a opportunity to discuss my God.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
Daniel 3:28
Several of those colleagues have since discovered my God intimately and they too will share eternity with me.
Will you risk being thrown into the fire? What if it becomes a blaze? Will you stand up for what is truth? Are you prepared to trust God with your very life?