Our Response: Daniel 3:28-30
God can only do so much; at some point we need to take responsibility and receive Him. He can reveal Himself and do great things in our life, but we must believe. We must accept the gift of life and relationship He freely gives to us.
The story of the fiery furnace ends with a bittersweet note. Nebuchadnezzar decrees God is mightier than all other gods. He promises anyone saying contrary words about God would be torn limb from limb. He declares their house would be laid in ruins. This is quite the victory for God.
This story started out with Nebuchadnezzar wanting worship. It ends with Nebuchadnezzar protecting the worship of the Hebrew people. God works an incredible result from an intensely antagonistic beginning. God can breathe life into the direst of circumstances.
That’s the sweet part of this story. God’s name is praised. God’s reputation expands. The people of Babylon get to experience a taste of God’s greatness.
Where does the bitter part of the story come in? Despite seeing these incredible happenings, Nebuchadnezzar does not bring himself to put his faith in God. Nebuchadnezzar proclaims no god in Babylon can save like the God of the Hebrew people, but Nebuchadnezzar does not put his faith in God to save him. Nebuchadnezzar walks to the precipice of relationship with God but doesn’t take it for himself.
Some of this has to do with the ancient mindset. People of the ancient world had no problem worshipping a multitude of gods. If you needed rain for the crops, you venerate one god. If your wife is pregnant, you worship another god. If you happen to be a blacksmith you worship another god. As the soldiers go out to war, some other god gets praised. In the ancient world, there wasn’t a need to limit yourself to one god, because each god had their own domain of influence.
In that respect, God is different. He tells us He is a jealous God and we are to have no other gods before Him. We are not to show different allegiances when our needs shift; we are to come to God for everything and put our trust in Him. Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t get that part. Nebuchadnezzar sees how great God is; he just doesn’t come all the way into relationship with God.
I wonder how often this happens. How often do people encounter the splendor of God yet fail to enter into relationship with Him? How often do people feel His presence in their life yet not embrace His offer of salvation? This truly is a bittersweet thought. It is incredible when God’s presence is felt and people acknowledge something truly incredible happening in their life. It is bittersweet when those seeds fail to grow and produce a harvest of faithfulness in their lives. God can only do so much; at some point we need to take responsibility and receive Him.
