Holding on to beliefs

Daniel 3:16-18 (NLT)
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had refused the king’s orders to bow before the gods of Babylon and before the statue of the king himself. The king was angry because of their insubordination and wanted them thrown into a fiery furnace as punishment. Their response was, “we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”


In 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white man. Instead she followed what was right within her heart. In her book Quiet Strength, Parks writes: When I sat down on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made—I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. After so many years of being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat—and whatever I had to face afterwards—was not important. I did not feel any fear sitting there. I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move. In an interview about that historic day, Parks corrected some misconceptions: People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

God tells us to be strong in Him and in the power of His might. Rosa Parks held strong to her belief that the Lord would be with her just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had believed. She was willing to be punished to stand up or as Rosa says, “sit down” for her beliefs of what was right.