Daniel 3 - Responding to a vision

My Daily SOAP Journal Entry

08/10/2010

Daniel 3

SCRIPTURE
Daniel 3
4 Then a herald shouted out, "People of all races and nations and languages, listen to the king's command!5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue.6 Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."
7 So at the sound of the musical instruments all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

OBSERVATION
The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is amazing to hear. Altho I do have a couple of questions - where is Daniel in this chapter? In the previous chapter Daniel has prayed with these 3 men and Daniel is again in Chapter 4. But what about here? Did he bow to the statue or not? We are not told so we can't assume either way.

Also, why did king Nebuchadnezzar build this statue? In the immediate verses before he is claiming how great God is and that he is the revealer of all mysteries. Did he get the idea of building the statue from his own dream, his own vision? Maybe. In the dream the statue’s head is made of gold and Daniel's interpretation of the dream is that the head represents Nebuchadnezzar.

I love how kroach write this up on http://www.youversion.com/ Contribution: 'Wrong response to a vision':

"It is implied in the text that this dream came from God, inasmuch as it was true and prophetic. So the situation is, Nebuchadnezzar has had a dream from God, interpreted by God's wise man, that in no uncertain terms he is a great king like a head of gold on an enormous statue. Unfortunately, Nebuchadnezzar draws all the wrong conclusions. Rather than see the statue as a symbol of who he is, he believes he must actually build the statue. It becomes a proxy for who he is: if people of every nation and language fall down and worship the statue, then they worship Nebuchadnezzar. (He seems to have forgotten entirely the whole thing about other kingdoms coming after his, and then the whole thing being crushed by God's eternal kingdom. He's only concerned with the part about himself.")

APPLICATION
"Have I let the vision/dream God has given me turn into something about me? Have I let the thing I am trying to build--a ministry, a business, a family, a legacy--become a proxy for me? Do I want the world to adore my projected image of myself? A good test is, do I find myself angry at those who don't respect my image? Do I want to throw into a furnace of my own wrath, those who just stand there and pay no respect to The Great Thing I am building? If I do, perhaps it is time to revisit why God gave the vision in the first place. It's a wonderful thing to get a part in God's story. But it's His story."

PRAYER
Lord, I that I would keep my focus on you, not on me. The vision/dreams you've given me are for your story not for me. Lord continue to remind me of this and help me to continue to lay it at your feet.