This painting is from the story of Daniel. The most powerful king in the ancient world at the time, king Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that everyone bow down to a worship a golden statue, or be put to death. But Daniel's three Jewish friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow. The king was furious and sentenced them to be thrown in the furnace to be burned alive.
In response to their sentence, the brave young men said, in Daniel 3:17-18 " King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (check out the book of Daniel ch.3 to find out what happened next in the story!)
This painting is part of my red, white and blue series exploring our nation today in conjunction with my study in the book of Daniel. The cliffs around the statue are a striped flag style curtain which has been drawn back to reveal the statue. This reminds me that there is always a hidden agenda behind politics, and that a lot of it is directed by the forces of good and evil, that we cannot see.
It is a reminder to me too, that even when things get complicated and are hard to understand which "side" to be on... that I serve God first, before my country, and that sometimes I have to stand up against popular opinion for what is right, even if I am standing alone.
-Deborah