2024_02_16 Insight Post- Jessica Woodcock
This week’s reading- Daniel 1:7, Daniel 2:49, Daniel 3
The book of Daniel holds many accounts of Daniel’s courageous and faithful actions. But tucked right in the middle is an entire chapter about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I always forget that Daniel was not with them when they refused to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. I’ve spent much of my week pondering that.
A few weeks ago, in Daniel 1, we read that Nebuchadnezzar had his advisors bring royalty from Judah to serve in his court, yet only 4 of these captives are named. We also read that Daniel himself approached the chief of staff to advocate for himself, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But in Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are listed together in their response to King Nebuchadnezzar. All four of these men clearly have strong faith. Account after account in the book of Daniel gives testament of their faithfulness, as they respectfully refuse to follow Babylonian customs and orders from Babylonian kings.
I don’t want to discount the abilities of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; they wouldn’t have been placed in charge of the affairs of Babylon were they not skilled in their own right. Daniel 1:17 states, “God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom…” However, I want to focus on Daniel’s leadership for a moment. We only have access to a few short chapters of Daniel’s life. We know that he affected the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by approaching the chief of staff to advocate for them to follow their own dietary customs (Daniel 1:8-14). I wonder about their three years of training in preparation for serving King Nebuchadnezzar. Can you imagine the conversations they must have had? Rusty spoke about iron sharpening iron earlier this week (Proverbs 27:17). I imagine a lot of sharpening occurred between these four men. I wonder how they affected the other trainees around them. I wonder how their faith grew as they spent time together.
Later, Daniel affects the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego again after he interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Daniel asks the king to appoint Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of Babylon (Daniel 2:49). While in that position, they remain faithful to God and respectful of those placed in authority over them, which affords them another opportunity to glorify God and affect the Babylonians. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego willingly face the fiery furnace, and their salvation by God affects Nebuchadnezzar in such a way that he grants religious freedom to those who want to worship the God of Judah and promotes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to an even higher position of authority.
The book of Daniel is cyclical; the king of the time makes a decree or needs information; Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego step up to stand against a decree or to fill the gap, and the king of the time is amazed by the faithfulness of our God. Unfortunately, as time passes, the goodness and strength of our God is forgotten by the rulers of Babylon, and the cycle repeats itself. But each time, Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are there to stand in the gap as examples.
This makes me contemplate the role I play in following Christ. Am I like Daniel, leading those who have been placed in my spheres of influence to a stronger faith? Am I an example of what the greatness of God can do when we have faith in Him? Do I inspire those around me to lean into and grow their own faith? Likewise, am I like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do I take advantage of the leaders that God has placed in my life? Do I listen to them, observe them, and allow them to sharpen my own faith, so that I can become stronger?
This week, I’ve spent some time contemplating who my role models are, the pillars of faith that I hold in esteem. Am I surrounding myself with these types of people, those who can encourage and enable me to do great things? I am also thinking about those I can lead. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about our family going through this year’s Bible Reading Plan together. Am I sticking to that? (We fell behind with Deborah last week; here’s my nudge to catch up and continue). Am I using my voice and life to influence my children’s faith? What about those around me? Am I lifting my husband up? My co-workers, my friends? Can they say that their faith walk is stronger because of my presence in their lives?
As I look through my life, I can see where I’m getting that right, but I can also see places where I can do better. Where do you have it right? Who’s influence do you need to dig into? What are the areas you can improve on? Who is in your sphere of influence? I encourage you to spend the rest of this week thinking about the faith of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how much they were able to affect those around them. I pray that we can have that same influence.
Jessica Woodcock
Administrative Manager