As soon as you hear the sound . . . you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (Dan. 3:5)
Expanded Passage: Daniel 3:1, 4-6
My dimly lit basement storage room has become a designer’s workshop. Our art table hosts push pins for detailing facial features and hair pieces, acrylic paint markers for changing clothing colors and body details, nail polish remover to alter mouth shapes, oven-dry clay to transform torso shapes, and a plethora of mini heads and legs, all in the process of being “made.” When I first envisioned my kids playing with LEGO and minifigures, I didn’t expect their play to evolve into redesigning the actual figures. The upgraded images are sophisticated, their workmanship a marvel.
King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image, tall and gleaming on the plain of Dura, would also have been a marvel to behold. Commanding his subjects to prostrate themselves before the beautiful new image was nothing to ask, just a common interaction between kings and their loyal subjects. And of course, King Nebuchadnezzar and his subjects would have known that their prostration to his new image equaled their allegiance, and perhaps even their worship of him as a god. That’s just the way it was in ancient Babylon. As for the consequences? The furnace could hardly be a threat to the people. Who wouldn’t fall and worship this gold image?
Our routine expectations often get the better of us. That’s just the way it is, we reason. But what happens when the future looks different than we imagined?
Honor God when you respond to a different reality than you envisioned.
Jamie Hilty lives in northern Indiana with her pastor-husband, Josh. She spends her days reading aloud to her kids, planning retreats, and avoiding the dishes.
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
