OnFire #77 Extreme Pressure

For the full story, read all of Daniel 3.

I think the first time I saw the "Jaws of Life" rescue tool was while I was watching the 70's tv show, "Emergency." Each week we tuned in to watch Johnny Gage, Roy DeSoto, and the rest of the gang at Station 51 perform feats of rescue drama. At the time the Jaws were revolutionary. The spreaders were originally developed by Hurst Performance (racing fans will know of the Hurst shifter - same company) in 1972 for race track rescues. It didn't take long to catch on and now they are used in many fire departments.

In August I had a chance to try the Jaws. WOW! Talk about power. I popped open a car door. Some of these units have up to 44 000 lbs of spreading force and 20 000 lbs pulling force. Cutters can exert over 60 000 lbs of cutting pressure! An experienced crew can take a car apart in minutes.

I'm thinking about pressure as I consider Daniel and his buddies this week. Standing for their convictions, they refused to worship the golden image Nebuchadnezzar had built.

This was not easy. The penalty for failing to obey Nebby's order was to be thrown into a blazing furnace (Daniel 3:6). The pressure they faced increased as they appeared before the king himself. He made it clear how they should respond: "...if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it,..." (3:15).

While we do not face the pressure to worship images in the same way as Daniel, we face pressure to bow to the gods of our age - money, greed, pleasure, selfishness, expediency, political correctness. In working for a church, I'm fortunate that I do not often face the pressure to lie or cheat, but I have friends who work for people who are, let's say, less than honest. No, we don't have images, but we still face pressure to worship other gods.

Nor do we usually face death for our stand, but that is not to say there aren't consequences which we bear in mind. What will people think of me? That's what I was thinking one night when I let friends convince me to sneak into a drive-in theatre. Will I lose my job? I did hear of a man who refused to lie for his boss and received a promotion because he was the only one in the office who was trustworthy.

What was the secret to Daniel's courage? Way back in chapter one we see a key decision. "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself." (1:8) Character and integrity are not accidents. We need to decide that we will be people of integrity.

We see another key in 3:17. "The God we serve is able to save us...and he will rescue us from your hand." They fully believed God would save them. And, they knew that God was more powerful than Nebby. So their jobs and their lives were not as important as being faithful to the One who would deliver them.

I hope Daniel inspires you as much as he does me. But this is not just about inspiration. It's about trusting God more and more so that when the pressure goes up, we remain faithful.