Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Daniel 3:10–28

Our true story is found in a part of the Bible called Daniel. Daniel was a man who loved God very much and lived in a land called Babylon.

We begin with three people named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those are some big names! We’ll say them again. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego loved God and God loved them. 


But there was a king named King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar thought that he was the greatest king and that EVERYONE should know it.


So, he built a giant golden statue. The king said, “Every time you hear music play, you have to bow down and worship my gold statue.” Hold on! This isn’t right! God says you should only bow down and worship the one true God!


Then the king said, “And if you do not bow down and worship the statue, you will be thrown into a fiery furnace!” 


Whoa! This was serious. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had a choice to make. Were they going to live for the king and bow down to his gold statue, OR were they going to live for God and do what God said?


Yes! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to live for God and do what God said! They told the king that God had the power to save them, but even if He didn’t, they wanted to live for God!


So, the next time the music played, and all the other people started bowing down to the statue, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego lived for God, and they did NOT bow and worship the king’s statue.


The king was so mad that he had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace!


But when the king looked into the fire, he saw something amazing!


FOUR people were walking around in the fire! And the fire was not hurting them at all! Let’s count the people in the fire: 1, 2, 3, 4! Four people! God had sent an angel to keep Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego safe!


When the king saw the four people walking around, he told Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out of the fire! And they did!


Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to live for God and do what God said. They knew that no matter what happened, God loved them. We can choose to live for God too, because God loves me and God loves you! So, when anyone asks you, “Who loves you?” You can say, “God loves me!”






Bible Paraphrase: “I will always love you.” —Jeremiah 31:3, CEV

Text Truth: I can live for God.



Family Devotional

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”
—Daniel 3:28

In our Bible Story, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did what God said. They lived for God, and they did not bow to the king’s statue. Doing what God says is how we show God that we love Him. And we can always trust that what God says is best because God loves us. God loves me, and God loves you!

“I will always love you.” —Jeremiah 31:3, CEV

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were friends. They helped each other live for God. So, with your family, take a piece of paper and make a list of friends. Have each family member write down the name of one friend. And make sure that each family member writes their name next to their friend’s name.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You for always loving us. Thank You for teaching us that we can live for You. Please help (say each family member’s name) and our friends (read the list of friends your family made) do things like read the Bible, pray, talk about You to others, and love You so we can live for You. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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