Why Wouldn’t We Do It?

Bible primer, Old Testament, for use in the primary department of Sunday schools (1919)

June of this year, Greg Morris began a blog, “But If Not,” with these words:

“Do not worry, my friend,” he told me. “If God does as we have discussed, I trust that he will bring about something wonderful from it.”

Do not worry. The irony could not be more apparent. It was he, not I, that was headed home to a hostile country. It was he, not I, that had already received death threats from former Muslim friends who awaited him there. And it was he, not I, who sought to comfort others in the hours before his departure.

The title comes from scripture – there are four in the KJV with the phrase, but this one is applicable:

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. (Daniel 3:18 KJV)

Do you know the fiery furnace from Daniel 3 – it’s a childhood Bible lesson – but if not, you can read it all by clicking here: Daniel 3:8-30.

It begins with local people making trouble for those who love and serve God. If you don’t know who three are, go back and read Daniel’s first chapter. And if that’s not enough information, try Jeremiah and the latter part of 2 Kings. In Daniel 3, the Chaldeans have interacted with the Jews since their king lost a war and royalty were taken to be of service to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon c. 605 BC – c. 562 BC. The book’s author, Daniel, isn’t included in this story – a question I’ll have to be answered in eternity.

His three companions from chapter one are the center of attention. They purposely disobeyed the king’s command, which was was set up by people discontented with Jews in general. The goal was for them to die, and Nebuchadnezzar had the fire stoked so hot that the soldiers carrying the condemned men died putting them in the furnace.

All they needed to do to keep from being killed was:

Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: (Daniel 3:10 KJV)

Just a few moments of the day, fall down and worship an image. Simple – do it, don’t die; don’t do it, die a fiery death. They didn’t – believing God would take care of them. He did.

So I wondered: why wouldn’t we do it? Do we have a reason for not taking just a few moments to act as though this statue was important? Just a few moments, and we’ll live. Why wouldn’t we want to live?

Then I got to thinking of the missionaries I know. One is similar to Morris’ friend – spreading God’s message of eternal love and life in an area where the government could demand the death penalty. Yet that missionary has been doing spreading the gospel for years. My offering helps send him to talk to people that hate what he has to say.

So my question gets turned back on me – he’s doing this because he loves his fellow man. He loves the country that doesn’t want him. We could be carrying the same message to people who may not want to hear us, so why wouldn’t we do it for people we know?

It’s embarrassing? It might make people angry? It might cost us friends and/or relatives? It certainly made the Chaldeans angry that people thought differently, that people worshipped different – and believed their God would protect them.

And, He did protect them. Perhaps the real question is, why don’t we believe God will do the same for us? Do you have an answer?