Daniel 3

A Story Of Courage.

But if not. Daniel 3:18.

Most boys and girls like the Book of Daniel. They never tire of reading the stories in it. What finer tale of adventure could you find than the one about Daniel in the den of lions? When you first read it didn't you wonder whether God would have shut the mouths of the bloodthirsty beasts if you had been put into a den of lions for doing what was right?

And of course you remember the story about the three youths in the fiery furnace. You may not have liked it so well. Perhaps the reason was that you missed the point in it. You thought more about the miracle than about the young men; you forgot that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were really three wonderful heroes. Did you ever know a boy who “set his teeth” when he made up his mind to do a certain thing that was difficult? Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told that they were to be cast into a burning fiery furnace because they had dared to disobey the king. And they were not afraid; they just answered calmly, “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. 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.” Their minds were made up; they had “set their teeth.” They believed in the God of Israel, and they were prepared to face a cruel death rather than fall down and worship the image Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. It was just as if they had said, “You may do what you like to us; but it won't make us budge one inch.”

Those Hebrew youths remind me of a young Scotsman who went to be a mechanic missionary in Central Africa. He was in a very lonely part. He had no friends near, and the king of the district was a cruel savage. He murdered white people without giving it a thought. Among many other Englishmen a Bishop fell a victim. Then the king turned his eye of death on the young Scotsman, whose name, I may tell you, was Mackay. But he met the savage king's look, we are told, “with calm blue eyes that never winked.” Courage is not always easy. There is a story of King Henry of Navarre at the siege of Cahors. He performed wonderful feats of valor in the thick of the most desperate fighting, and all the while kept cursing himself because he was so cowardly. It was only by the supreme effort of a very strong will that he kept under the terror which, to himself, seemed always to be on the point of mastering him. There is often fear where there is true courage; the courageous man just keeps his presence of mind as far as he can.

Here is a little bit of a letter written by a very brave and famous young captain in the Flying Corps during the World War I. “Don't think me unfair wishing to go again, for I don't do it because I wish to. I shall find it hard to go, but you will all back me up, and I will try again to help my country and bring credit to my dear mother.

I thought I would send you this letter, for I am feeling all poo-poo, and it always helps me if I tell my mother.”

You are not likely to be given the chance of being brave as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were, but every one of you will have to go through the fiery furnace of temptation. It may be heated for you with ridicule. “Ridicule,” said a famous priest, “is God's fire for the burning of the stubble of humbug and solemn sham.” But it is hard for even a brave boy or girl to bear it for the time being.

A young man was speaking to a clergyman at the close of -a meeting. Among other things, he said: “Some years ago at a mission service I decided to accept Christ; and I determined that my first act on the following morning should be to tell my sister about it. When I went downstairs and told her she laughed right out at me, and from that time I have given it all up.” But after further conversation and prayer, the clergyman had good reason to believe the wandering backslider was restored, and that, trusting in the keeping power of his Savior, he was able to face ridicule and remain true to his Lord.

Boys and girls, when the fiery day of temptation comes, how will you meet it? Will you be brave like the three Hebrew children? If you are, you will come out of the furnace nobler and stronger. You will prove yourself a hero in the sight of God.