"Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort."
Daniel 3:28-29
Nebuchadnezzar wasn't really used to being disobeyed, so when Shadrach and his crew stood up to him about worshipping an idol, he was angry, and threw them into a furnace. When they survive though, he is really impressed, adn makes this decree. Of course he kind of misses the point, and still seems to think that asserting his authority about the whole thing will solve the problem, but at least he didn't just try harder to kill them or something. :)
The real point here is that God knows all of it, and he is in charge, not any leader or king. These men were saved, but Abinadi wasn't, for instance, so the thing to believe in isn't freedom from pain, or that God will save us from every challenging situation. He won't. He made this world, and we're here to live in it for a reason. As much as we would love for God to be our spiritual bubble-wrap protecting us from bumps and scrapes, sometimes those things are exactly what we need to go through in this life, for our own personal development and as part of God's plan. No Abinadi, no giant religious revival at that time in history. The thing to believe in is that God's words and laws and requests are the ones that make the most sense, and the ones that will see us safely home. Things that endanger that return are our real problems... threats from elsewhere don't matter compared to that.
Today, let's remember how well God can deliver us, and turn to him for help when we are in need. It won't always work out the way that we expect or want, but eventually real deliverance means it all *will* work out, because God keeps all of his promises.
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