“Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him and set aside the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, any people, nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins. For there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way.'”
– Daniel 3:28–29
Did you hear that? I think most people are familiar with the story, at least who know the Bible, are familiar with the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and how they willingly were thrown into a fiery furnace instead of obeying the king’s command to bow down and worship a false God. While they’re in the furnace, the story in Daniel 3 is amazing. The king says, “I put three men in there. There’s somebody else in there, this picture of God’s presence with and God’s provision for them.” But that’s where most people’s knowledge of the story ends.
And so we walk away and we say, “Yes, okay. You should trust in God even when it’s costly, even when it may cost you everything. Worship God alone. Yes, yes, absolutely that.” But if we don’t get to these verses at the end of the story, we miss the point. Why did God do this? Why did God allow, even ordain these three servants of His to be thrown into a fiery furnace? So that in the end of this story, on the other side of that fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king would declare, “The God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is worthy of praise. He is able to rescue you like no other God. So every people, nation and language needs to honor this God.”
In other words, God does what He does with Shadrach, and Meshach, and Abednego for the praise of His own glory among all the peoples, nations and languages. And here it’s through the lips of a pagan king, King Nebuchadnezzar. This is the story we see all throughout the Bible. God is spreading His own glory among all the nations, through His people. That’s why we are here. That’s why you are in this world today, to spread the greatness, the rescue, the glory of your God, starting among all the nations, among all the peoples, starting with the people right around you, starting with the nations right around you.
So God, we pray that you would help us to live for this purpose. Help us to fall in line behind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and so many others who have gone before us and have trusted in you, set aside the ways of this world and yielded ourselves up to you, trusting you with our very lives.
God, help us to obey you today. Help us to worship you wholeheartedly today, and we pray that you would use our lives to lead others to see your goodness and your glory. God, help us to live for the spread of your goodness and your glory today, right where we live. God, help us to reflect your character. Give us boldness to speak the Gospel.
And God, we pray that the fruit of our lives today would be more people seeing how great you are through us hearing how great you are from us. And God, help us to do this until all the nations know you, all the peoples, all the languages.
We pray today for the Mewati people of Pakistan, a million of them, no known followers of Jesus in this Muslim people group. God, we pray that this people group, this nation, this ethnic group, the Mewati of Pakistan would be reached with the good news of your rescue in Jesus, your love for them, your glory above all other gods.
God, we pray for the salvation of the Mewati people, for the sending of laborers to the Mewati people, and for your name alone to be worshiped among the Mewati and every other people, nation and language in the world. God, help us to live for this. Use our prayers even now toward that end. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
