March 2

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

Those Hebrews spoke respectfully, but firmly. And mark, they did not absolutely say that God would deliver them from the burning fiery furnace; but they declared that He was able to deliver them. They had no doubt about His ability to do it.

They believed that He could do it; but they did not hide from themselves the possibility of Nebuchadnezzar being allowed to carry out his threats. Still, that did not greatly move them. “But  not,” —if in His inscrutable purposes He allows us to suffer,—“still our resolve is the same: we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” They were not afraid to pass from the presence of the king of Babylon to the presence of the King of kings.