King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue of himself that everyone should worship but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse and are thrown into the fiery furnace. A fourth person is seen walking around with them in the furnace and they emerge unharmed, with no smell of fire on them. N turns and worships God saying this is the true God. Possible application points: what are we tempted to worship other than God? How do we resist this pressure to conform? How can we strengthen our faith so, like SMA, we can say “Our God is able to rescue us, but even if he does not, we will not bow down!” God preserves those who remain faithful to him, even if they die (Bonhoeffer). The goal is “to have no smell of fire” (compromise) on us.
