1. Daniel Infinite Trust In God
Look At The Book!
Daniel
Infinite Trust In God

2. Testing Your Trust
Is there a test of how much you trust another person?
Maya Angelou: “I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
Can you see her point? Trust comes from experience. Actions speak louder than words.

3. Can We Trust God? He tells us we should trust Him.
Are His words enough?
Fortunately, we also have amazing examples of the trustworthiness of God to help us have faith in Him.
Let’s consider one of the most amazing examples of trust found in the Bible, from the book of Daniel.

4. When Nobles Went Into Exile
Daniel starts out as an account of four very special, faithful men, with names that honored God.
Daniel = God Is My Judge
Hananiah = God is Gracious
Mishael = Who is Like God?
Azariah = God helps
They were nobles in Jerusalem who were captured by Babylon.

5. Their Names Were Changed
Daniel renamed Belteshazzar = Bel protects the king
Hananiah renamed Shadrach = Command of Aku (moon god)
Mishael renamed Meshach = Who is like Aku?
Azariah renamed Abed-nego = Slave of Nabu (Nebo) – god of vegetation.
Some indication that one letter was changed in Daniel’s writing to lessen the blow.

6. First Indication of Trust in God
With what they’ve just experienced, it might seem difficult for them to trust God.
They’ve lost homes. Lost family. Seen many who were killed. Seen their city fall in war.
Yet their first and only real concern is to be pleasing to God.
Daniel 1:8 – “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank….”

7. What Was Wrong With The Food?
Strong indication that food was first offered to their false gods and then placed on the kings’ table.
Daniel and the three didn’t want to defile themselves by eating idolatrous food.
Made arrangements with the commander of the officials in Nebuchadnezzar’s court to be given only vegetables to eat and not the king’s “choice food.”
Would God reward this initial expression of faith in Him?

8. First Reward For Trust
Daniel 1: As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

9. God Rewards Our Trust
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Straight paths are a great reward from God in exchange for our trusting Him!

10. The Folly Of An Arrogant King
Nebuchadnezzar was a chosen servant of God
Jeremiah 25:9 – “…behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against his land and against its inhabitants….”
But he let success go to his head!

11. A Vision Of A Mighty Statue
Nebuchadnezzar has a night vision in which he sees a large statue.
Daniel 2:32, – “The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze….now we will tell its interpretation….You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.”

12. He Lets The Vision Go To His Head
After learning the meaning of the dream, he sometime later causes a statue representing himself to be made.
It is a giant statue some 90 feet tall.
Taller than the Sam Houston statue
Shorter than the statue of liberty
Able to be seen from a good distance away.

13. Nebuchadnezzar’s Decree
Daniel 3:2, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up…. that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”

14. Worst Advice Ever
You’ve heard the saying: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
That is TERRIBLE advice for the people of God.
So it is that there will now be trouble for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

15. They Refuse To Bow To An Idol
Daniel 3:12-13 – (Certain Chaldeans said to Nebuchadnezzar)…:There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king.”

16. Destined For The Fiery Furnace
What happened next is a beautiful example of what trust in God can bring to us.
The king’s ultimatum: 3:15 – “But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?”
What God indeed!

17. The Science Of Immediate Suffocation
Getting ahead of the story just slightly.
Trip to Fredericksburg, Tx.
WWII reenactment of the storming of a Japanese “pillbox”.
Working flamethrower
Heat was tremendous, even at a distance.
Statement from the historian.

18. The Science Of Immediate Suffocation
The furnace was heated seven times hotter than usual.
It is highly possible that the fire was using up so much oxygen that those throwing Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- nego into the fire suffocated immediately as the oxygen was ripped right out of their lungs! (v. 19, 22)

19. Trust And Reward The three men proclaim their faith in God
Daniel 3:17-18 – “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

20. And Are Promptly Cast Into The Fire
Daniel 3:21 – “Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.”

21. Where They Were Joined By A Fourth
Daniel 3: “He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
Who joined them?

22. And Delivered Without Any Harm!
Daniel 3: The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no [w]effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.”

23. Nebuchadnezzar’s New Decree
Daniel 3:29 – “Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”

24. We Can And Should Trust God!
Psalm 33:4-5 – “For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.”
Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”