Today I read Daniel 3 where Nebuchadnezzar creates his image of gold and demands that everyone worship it. As all familiar with the story knows, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refuse and are thrown into a furnace a fire. A furnace so hot, that the poor men who put the 3 Israelites inside of it, died. Heavenly Father chose to reward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego's faith and saved them from the furnace.
I have often wondered why the Lord saved those three, why did He reward their faith when so many others were martyred? I believe it has to do with their deliverance becoming a testimony against Nebuchadnezzar. That man was given many opportunities to repent and become a better man. He was given sign after sign by God through Daniel and the others, but despite proclaiming that their God was the greatest, he never repented nor did he change his ways at all. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over again.
We are not much different really. We keep getting chance after chance to change our ways and become better men and women, but we generally don't take them. Or if we do, they are not a permanent change. We might change our ways for a little while, after the initial awe and wonder of what we experienced, most of us then revert back to our old habits and ways. This is why God does not try and convert with signs. A sign does not change hearts and does not make us different men and women. Rather the change must start with our own desire, then after we have become converted, then we will receive signs if desired. That is the natural order of things for true conversion. Until tomorrow.
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