🔥 Daniel 3:17 | A Burning Devotion

Happy Monday, everyone!

Imagine having so much faith in God that it wouldn’t matter if He saved you from death or not; you’d still praise Him.

It’s that level of radical devotion we are learning about today (and this week) as we study Daniel 3:17.

In today’s email…

• 🔥 Three stiff-necked men

• ✝️ Radical devotion lived then and now

• 👀 An exciting update

• 🎵 Johnny Cash is making airwaves over this verse

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MEMORIZE 🧠 

If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Daniel 3:17

CONTEXT 📕 

Let’s set the scene.

The Hebrew men — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — have been living in Babylon, the powerful empire that conquered their home.

Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar erects a massive golden statue and demands that everyone bow to it (at the sound of music, no less).

If they refuse, into the blazing furnace they go (Daniel 3:1–6).

But the three men don’t bow down.

Others rat them out. And when the king confronts them, they respond:

In other words: “God can save us and we pray He will. But even if He doesn’t…we still won’t bow.”

That’s radical devotion.

Here are a couple of things that stand out at first glance.

1. “God is able” isn’t wishful thinking. It’s rooted in their stories of deliverance. They know God has rescued Israel countless times (think of parting seas or freeing them from slavery)

2. “But if not” reveals their deepest conviction: devotion to God isn’t conditional on rescue. Their worship isn’t based on blessings, it’s based on trust. They’re saying, “God, we believe you CAN, but we worship you because we CHOOSE to, even if everything fails.”

Why this matters for us

In today’s world, pressures don’t often look like literal fiery furnaces, but they test our loyalty just the same.

Will we cling to our values when something we want is at stake?

Will we live out a “but if not” kind of faith when we

This week is all about radical devotion to God, and these three men give us a front-row seat to what many Christians around the world have done for thousands of years — risk their lives for Christ.

The question we must ask is: 

If we were in their shoes, would we do the same?

This week, we’ll get a full picture of what was at stake for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how we can live out that level of radical devotion to Jesus.

APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃‍♂️ 

📖 Read Daniel  3:1–18. Picture the tension, the crowd, the music, the fiery threat. What stands out to you?

Pray 🙏 

Lord, this is a radical level of devotion. But it is the level of devotion you call us to. Help me trust You, not just when You rescue me, but even if You don’t. Give me courage to stand firm. Light a fire in me this week to desire you more.

SONG OF THE WEEK 🎵 

We have been hard at work building tools and resources to help you memorize more of God’s Word (in your favorite translation). And I’m excited to share one of those resources today!

We all know we can remember songs we heard decades ago. So we want to use that to help us memorize Scripture!

Starting in two weeks, pay-it-forward subscribers will receive a song we’ve created specifically to help you memorize the verse of the week!

If you don’t currently pay-it-forward and you’d like to, you can do that here.

And if you don’t pay it forward, you’ll still receive songs like this one by Johnny Cash related to the theme of our memory verse.

Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music | Full Malachi Daily Playlist

ANSWER KEY ✅ 

If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Daniel 3:17