There’s Always Hope: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.

Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”

Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

At this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever! Your Majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – who pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”…

Daniel 3

Transcript

Good morning,

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I love meeting with you each weekday morning at this time and just taking some time with God together, listening what He has to say to us in His word, the Bible, and applying it to our lives. And so often what God has to say to us at this time in the morning speaks right into our lives, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s not dead words on the page. It’s a living God applying His truth to your life. Let’s listen to God now.

We’re talking all this week about the theme that there is always hope when you walk with God, and we’re looking at this story from the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel, where King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the entire Babylonian Empire, has called people together from across the empire. He’s built a massive statue out of gold, 27 m tall, and said everyone has to bow down and worship it when we play the music.

And some of these people who walk with God say, well, we won’t do that. And King Nebuchadnezzar becomes furious at these three friends and says, I’m giving you one last chance, and then I’m throwing you into a burning fiery furnace.

And who is the God who will deliver you, and they give the first foundation of their hope. Our God is able. Our God is able, and here’s the second foundation of hope that these guys have in that desperate situation. They say our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. Secondly, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O King. So the second foundation is this God is for us. Now sometimes, as you look in your life and maybe you’re facing some devastating situation, it seems hopeless to you.

And you think, what can happen out of this that is good. And it’s easy in that moment to think, God is not for me.

Right. Because you’re looking at your desperate situation and you’re thinking, how could God let this happen to me? How could God let me face this kind of desperation in my life, this kind of pain that I’m looking at.

Well, He is on your side, and this is the message of all of Scripture, and I want to say to you, when you are tempted to push God away thinking He doesn’t really love you, that’s the time you most need to draw Him near.

Because He wants to walk with you, you remember King David writing in Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You remember how it goes. You are with me. You are with me.

You see these guys in this situation. It seems so hopeless, desperate, and they’re facing being thrown into this fire. The worst pain a person can endure is burns from fire, and no doubt this is going through their minds. But even facing that, our God is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us. We know that God is for us.

The fact is we live in a difficult time in this world, don’t we? Desperate things are happening not only in your own life but on the global scale. So many things going on that can cause a person to be hopeless, but there is always hope when you are walking with God.

When you doubt the love of God in your life, you need to look back and just remember what Jesus has done for you.

As John 3:16 tells us in the Bible, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus himself in John 1:3, it says, Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end, and that leads into the chapters of John that describe Jesus’s arrest, torture, and crucifixion for you and me to make a way for us to be right with God.

God loves you. He understands the pain you’re going through. Jesus experienced it all – the physical pain, the loneliness, the rejection, every kind of pain that we experience, Jesus has experienced. He knows what you’re facing, and He wants to walk through it with you.

In many cases He will deliver you out of it. In others He’ll walk with you through the pain, but He loves you and wants to sustain you. There is always hope.

I’m John North.