There once was a ruler of a nation who erected a large golden statue of himself. At the unveiling and dedication of this statue, important political figures in the nation, the governors, the spiritual and political advisers, the judges and magistrates, and many others, came to show their support of this marvelous statue. These people found their power and prestige wrapped up in serving this ruler. They didn’t care what the ruler did, as long as they maintained their positions and power. And a good way to do that was to tell this ruler what he wanted to hear, and to avoid making him angry.

Now, as you can imagine, there were people who immediately declared that this was an idol. They believed that those who were willing to put up with this sort of nonsense – or worse, justify it – were just as complicit in idolatry as the ruler of this nation himself. And they rejected this golden statue.

Before we go on, we need to ask ourselves what idolatry actually is. In the Ten Commandments, the first one says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” And then it says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven or earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, because I am a jealous God.” We generally think that in order for something to be an idol, it needs to be a physical object: things like the golden calf that the Israelites worshipped when Moses went up Mt. Sinai to commune with God. But idols can be more than just physical images. The late Rev. Billy Graham has said that an idol is anything that takes God’s rightful place as the object of worship in someone’s life; that can be money, social and political position, or possessions.¹ The Rev. John Piper has said that “anything in the world that successfully competes with our love for God is an idol.”²

Now, in our story, those who rejected the golden statue faced the wrath of this ruler of the nations. And he declared that they should die.

If you know your Bible Stories, you know that I’m recounting the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and the three Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar had demanded not just complete political allegiance from his followers, but had also demanded that their political allegiance be tied to worship. That is, their continued political futures were tied to the reverence of him in the form of this golden statue. These three Jewish men, however, simply could not, and would not, worship anything other than their own God. As we know, these three men were thrown into a furnace so hot that the men that threw them in were killed by the heat. And yet, these young men survived, a complete shock to Nebuchadnezzar and his cronies. If you know the rest of this king’s story, God finally had enough of Nebuchadnezzar deeming himself equal to God that God forced Nebuchadnezzar to lose his sanity and live like a wild animal. The king would live like this until he acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms. He was urged to renounce his sins – the sins of demanding reverence that is due to God alone. It took seven years, but Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson and was finally able to declare that God was sovereign, and that he, Nebuchadnezzar, was not.³ After regaining his sanity from living like a wild animal, Nebuchadnezzar said, “I praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything God does is right and all God’s ways are just. And those who walk in pride, God is able to humble.”⁴ King Nebuchadnezzar was then restored to his place in the kingdom.

There is irony in this story. These three young men, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were Jews, living in King Nebuchadnezzar’s country – that is, Babylon, because God had gotten tired of the Israelite’s own “infidelity.” Repeatedly, the Israelites had looked to human beings as their savior, and had also turned to other idols instead of worshiping God alone. Because of this, God allowed them to be taken into exile in Babylon. 

But there is also redemption in this story. These three young men learned the lesson not to allow any person or thing to take over God’s rightful place in their lives. And the rest of Israel also learned this lesson, leading to the restoration of Jerusalem.⁵

When people persist in their folly, God allows them to suffer the consequences. And when people learn their lesson, God restores them. That’s a simple lesson. But it requires that people recognize their folly. Without that recognition, we just repeat the same stories.

[This is an article for the Newsletter at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, June 2026.]

1. https://billygraham.org/answers/was-our-pastor-correct-in-labeling-things-like-money-and-jobs-as-idols-rather-than-just-carved-religious-figures ↩︎
2. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-an-idol ↩︎
3. Daniel 3-4 ↩︎
4. Daniel 4:37 ↩︎
5. See the books of Ezra and Nehemiah ↩︎