September 10, 2025

BLESSED

Daniel 3:95 LXX (3:28)

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Personal Challenge

It takes guts to stand up for what you believe, especially when all the olds are stacked against you. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego knew that they would be thrown into the fiery furnace for defying the king. They trusted that their God would take care of them, even if that only meant being with Him after their death. This is true martyrdom. We must always be ready and willing to lay down our life for our God. This is a given for any true follower of Christ. We are also called by Jesus to be willing to lay down our life for another. That may mean standing between an immigration officer and the foreigner. It may mean protesting the autrocities that an authoritarian government perpetrates against its citizens. It always means feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the infirm, protecting the widow and the orphan, and just plain loving our neighbor, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!