What does Daniel 3:16 teach us about
Standing When Culture Says Bow?
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.”
—Daniel 3:16
Find out in this week’s devotional thought.
“Right is right, even if everyone is against it;
and wrong is wrong,
even if everyone is for it.”
— William Penn
You’ve heard it said many times, “Dare to be a Daniel.”
I want to propose another thought along those lines:
Dare to be a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Daniel’s three friends were exemplary characters of what it means to stand for truth.
After all, Nebuchadnezzar did not ask Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to decide what was true. He simply demanded that they bow along with everyone else.
This lesson has so much relevance for our culture today.
I am continually astounded by how God’s Word, written thousands of years ago, speaks directly into our lives today.
Truly, there is “nothing new under the sun.”
God had blessed these young men with knowledge and wisdom, and they had risen to positions of leadership in Babylon. Now they found themselves facing a command from the very king under whom they served.
The stage is set and the act plays out in Daniel 3.
The king had built a great golden image and called the officials of the kingdom together for its dedication. With all the pomp, circumstance, and music of Babylon, one order was given:
When the music played, everyone was to bow down and worship.
And then comes Daniel 3:6:
“But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”
A very public dedication.
A very public order.
A very public decision.
I wonder if they smelled the smoke.
I wonder if the furnace was visible from where they stood.
And I wonder what went through their hearts and minds when the music began and they realized they were still standing while everyone around them bowed.
Nobody in their right mind would want to be in this position.
And yet, somewhere before this moment, these young men seem to have settled in their hearts the truth of Proverbs 4:23:
“Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.”
The time to settle and guard what we believe is before the pressure comes.
When the music begins and everyone around us bows, there is little time if any
to decide where we stand.
Moments like this reveal what is guiding us.
Will we be moved by the pressure around us,
or by convictions already settled in our hearts?
For the believer, those convictions must be anchored in the truth of God’s Word.
The young men heard the music.
External pressure or internal principle had to guide.
The Precept Austin Daniel 3 Commentary puts it this way:
“The majority followed the music; the faithful followed the Word.”
God does not change His truth to accommodate the culture, and He does not call us to compromise it.
We may never be asked to bow before a golden image, but we do face moments when culture asks us to bend our convictions, soften the truth of God’s Word, or simply go along because everyone else is doing it.
Still, rationalization has a way of sounding reasonable.
The Precept Austin Daniel 3 Commentary suggests several ways these young men might have justified bowing:
- I am standing in my heart although I am bowing to the pressure.
- I am in Babylon. Jerusalem will never know.
Or, - I am being forced against my will to do something I don’t agree with. God understands and He will forgive me.
Rationalizations can sound good to us.
But this is an age-old tactic of the enemy:
question what God has said just enough that
compromise begins to sound reasonable.
The three young men were then given another chance.
Bow and worship or face the furnace.
They did not know what the outcome would be. They only knew the king’s threat was very real as they stood before him and the smoke and the fire.
Still, when Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to bow, their response was:
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.”
—Daniel 3:16
Maybe not the best-known verse in this section, but a very significant one, nonetheless.
I think their answer reveals that the decision had been made long before they stood before Nebuchadnezzar about what they would do.
There was nothing left to debate. They were respectful . . . and immovable.
You see, standing for truth doesn’t require combativeness, only conviction of the Truth.
It is being convinced enough of God’s Word that when the culture says, Bow,
the matter has already been settled in our hearts.
So the next time culture demands a bow,
be prepared, ahead of time for your response with the matter already being firmly settled.
And then dare to be a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Now that’s a relevant story.
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