Have you ever ended up in a trouble when you tried to do what was right? I am not talking about making a mistake and it leads you to trouble. I am not talking about just “blowing it” and it leads you to trouble. I am talking about times when you have done every thing right and you end up in trouble. Have you ever been there?

I am thinking about three young men who had just that very thing happen to them. They did everything according to the book and they ended up in serious trouble. Nobody could point a finger at them and accuse them of doing wrong. No one could say they should have done it another way and things would have turned out better. No, they did exactly what they were instructed to do and did they ever land in a lot of trouble?

Here they are, they have been taken from their homes and placed in a foreign land. My understanding is they were even separated from their families and made to live in a strange house with several other men. It was a tough situation by any one’s standards.

To further complicate the matters. They are introduced to customs and rituals that are not only unfamiliar to them; they feel these customs and rituals are wrong. They feel to participate in them they will be dishonoring their God. So they refuse to take part.

I have been in situations where I have had to take a stand for what I feel to be right. When I have done so and looked around me to see others standing with me it makes it easier. When I have looked around and have been standing alone or with only a few standing also, it has been more difficult to take that stand. When I look around for those I know should be standing with me and they aren’t it is even more difficult.

This is where I feel these young men must have been. I don’t know if they were brothers, cousins or just good friends. I do know that the three of them look around and the only one standing with them is a young man named Daniel. All of the others, who should have believed as they did, were not making the stand for what was right.

Now God blessed these four young men. They refused to eat the king’s meat because it had been offered to idols before being served. This was against the Law of God. Their refusal was to their own harm in that they chose to eat food of lesser quality. However, God blessed them and they fared much better than those who ate the king’s meat.

I really feel this was a blessing in disguise. God was showing them they could rely on Him. He was telling them, “If you stand for what is right He will take care of you. Put your trust in Him and He will see you through situations that seem impossible.”

I don’t know what took place in the lives of these three young men after this occasion. I know the Bible says they were given positions of importance in the kingdom of Babylon. According to the time line in my Bible there is about twenty-seven years that we have no record of in the lives of these men.

So now, rather than being young lads, these are men who are closer to being middle age. They were probably in their late teens or early twenties when they came to Babylon. (I am not trying to be totally accurate, just trying to get a picture of what might have been.) Twenty seven years have passed so they would be somewhere between forty and fifty years old. This is my guess.

Their lives have pretty much settled down. They have made a place for themselves in Babylon. They have had civil service jobs for the past twenty seven years. They have served well in the positions they held. They are going along through life without too much of a problem until the king has a dream.

The result of this dream will change their lives. You talk about minding your own business and ending up in trouble! This is just what happened to them. The king has a dream and decides, as a result of that dream, to build an image of him. It sure would be interesting to know what he had for a midnight snack the night before. Stay away from that!

Not only is he building an image to himself, he brings all the officials of the kingdom in and demands they bow to this image. Wait a second, why is this happening? He not only demands the people worship the image, he threatens them. If they refuse to bow to the image they will be thrown into a furnace.

Again, you have got to ask the questions, “Where did this come from? Why am I here? I’ve been good, for twenty seven years, how come this is happening to me?”

Many times when we read of the Bible Hero’s we forget they were men and women just like we are. James said it this way, James 5:17, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are…” They hurt, they cried, they were confused, they knew uncertainty, they questioned, they were just like you and me.

I am sure these men asked each other, “What are you going to do when the music plays? Will you bow?”

I am sure each of these men was questioning their intestinal fortitude. Will I have the courage to stand for what I know is right? Can I do it? Can I put my trust in God? Will I be able to rely on Him?

I don’t feel it would have been a question of whether or not God could save them. I feel it might have been more of a question of whether they would be able to trust God. They weren’t questioning the trust worthiness of God. They were questioning their ability to trust!

So here they are. They are with a multitude of people on the plain. The music plays. The people bow down to the image. These three men remain standing. Maybe they carefully look around to see if anyone else is standing. I can imagine the relief when they find their friends has made the same choice as they have. They are standing for what they feel is right.

Again I ask the question, have you ever done what you know is right and ended up in a hot spot? The choice these men made landed them in that exact, literal, situation. The king throws them in a furnace. Their chance of survival is non existent.

I am always amazed when I read the statement they made to the king prior to be thrown into the fire. Let me quote:

Dan 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. KJV

The word “careful” means they were ready with their answer. They didn’t have to think about their decision. So here are some men who have predetermined they are going to do what is right and they still end up in trouble. Why do things like this happen?

The answer is in the story and is so simple that I guess I often forget about it in my times of trouble. When they were thrown into the furnace the king thought it was all over. Yet it is brought to his attention they are not being consumed by the fire. In fact they are walking around in the furnace. (You have got to wonder if they were singing, I feel Him in my walk, and I feel Him in my talk…)

His attention is suddenly arrested by the fact there are not three men in the furnace. There are now four men walking around in the furnace. To shake the king up a little more, one of those men looks like God!

Friend, we have a convert. We have a believer! We have a man who is shaken to his soul by what he has just witnessed. He has the three men brought to him. Sure enough they are alive. There are just three men standing before him, not four. It is here and now that we find the reason for what has taken place.

The king is so moved by what he has witnessed that he speaks to the people. He tells them of the stand these men have taken for what is right. He tells the people of the trust these men have in their God. He informs the people of how the God of these men has protected them and honored that trust. Then he says if anyone is to speak against that God he will cut them into pieces.

Why do we end up in “hot spots” when we are doing what is right? It is to bring glory to God. It is to show the world the power of God. He gets no glory when we are doing wrong and end up in trouble. However, when we are doing right, when we are standing for righteousness and trouble comes our way, it gets the attention of the crowd. They ask the question “Why are they going through all this trouble, they are good people? “ It rains on the just and the unjust. Trouble comes to each and every person. That is life.

God gets the glory upon our deliverance. It shows the world our trust has not been misplaced. It speaks louder than our voices ever will of the power and grace of God.

If I can only remember, the next time I am in a “hot spot” that I didn’t make, God is going to get glory from this, and I will be alright. I am, like Job, being trusted to do what is right. When I have come out of the fire, God will be glorified. He has confidence in me. Can I have confidence in Him?

God Bless!