Facing the Furnace

A deeper dive behind “I Will Not Bow.”

Photo by Carter Moorse on Unsplash

Take a Bow

My latest poem “I Will Not Bow” (read it here) was inspired by the story of Daniel and his companions, who were thrown into a raging furnace for refusing to bow down to a carven image of the King of Babylon. The lead pastor of my church recently preached a powerful sermon on this story.

It’s too easy to puff our chests up, reading this story, to see these Jewish men, and their courage to face the furnace, in ourselves. More often than not, the reality is that I see the insecurity, fear, and hunger for power and control of King Nebuchadnezzar in my own heart, which is itself a burning furnace of desire. Viewing the story from this vantage point, it strikes me how we all bow to something, whether we acknowledge it or not, in this world full of idols we have made for ourselves or that have been cunningly crafted for us.

Who or what have you been bowing to?

This Little Idol of Mine…

For a long time there, I bowed to the Pride flag, or my sexuality, as if that were the only place I could find my true identity, nature, and acceptance.

Believe it or not, I did not find what I was looking for, in terms of identity or acceptance (strange how people who claim to be tolerant become quickly intolerant when challenged—and I see this streak in myself! This tells me that love and tolerance are not the same thing).

Now, I may have come face-to-face with my nature there, in the throes of my wandering—but let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Idols, like anything that is sinful, always over-promise and under-deliver. Yet even though I have renounced the way I once lived and am seeking to walk in a new direction (His direction), I still struggle daily. My old self does not want to rest easy in the grave. Something tells me it won’t until all is made new once and for all. But this is no excuse. I believe God’s got a plan there (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Simplicity and Cost of Salvation

While time continues to tick, however, we as Christians dare not bow in worship to ourselves, our church leaders, our friends, our family members, this or that political, social justice movement or regime. We need to, as Solzhenitsyn puts it, “live not by lies.” We need to bow to Jesus alone. This is a wildly yet unsurprisingly difficult message to receive and apply, because of how costly it is. Simple, but costly. Simple, because it does not take much explaining at the outset (we just don’t like to hear it sometimes). Costly, because it took God Himself coming down in the flesh to live a life we could not live, die a death we were meant to die, and rise that we might rise with Him. And we are called, consequently, to lay our whole selves down in response.

Certainly, this message of salvation is to be worked out in fear and trembling, but also in hope (Philippians 2:12). We still have to let go and cling to Him. Every day, every moment, if that’s what it takes. That’s the fear and the trembling; the struggle is, as they say, “real.” But the hope comes when we realize that He has not left us to live out this sanctifying process alone—especially since He Himself is doing the sanctifying, by His Spirit. We can’t do it ourselves.

And it’s this “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that puts us as believers in such tension and division when it comes to discerning who we are bowing to, and what we ought to stand for. Aren’t we supposed to fight for the marginalized, the poor, the outcast, the oppressed? Yes, yes, yes, and yes—for we too once were, and still do sometimes live that way, and face such adversity.

But are we supposed to worship them?

No. And therein lies the rub. Therein lies the problem.

Buying Lies vs. Bowing to the Truth

Some might argue in return that taking a stand for one movement over another and flying said flag outside of church is not the same as worshipping that movement. But I believe that’s tantamount to buying into the lie that everyone must be represented in order for them to be cared for and supported, and that our perception of reality and experience is more valid than God’s. To believe otherwise is humbling. This is just the lie (a lie as old as Eden) that the Enemy wants us to believe in order to divide God’s people and separate us into different “tribes” and “camps” rather than in Jesus’ sheepfold. Truly caring for and loving others—seeing them and meeting them where they are—is implicit in who Jesus is, if we are actually seeking to know, worship, and follow Him, and Him alone.

The world, cancel culture, various social justice movements and agendas—even some truly good causes and issues that rally support for justice and positive change—all are asking us to bow in one way or another. Many to varying degrees bear echoes and emblems of God’s truth, but none of them are in themselves the truth. To claim as such would be to live by lies. We need to be anchored in the One who alone holds the words of life, truth, and hope. We need to keep our eyes on things above, not on things of earth (Col. 3:2). We need to be vigilant about who or what we are bowing to, and ready to stand our ground when faced with purifying (and painful) fire—knowing that we do not stand alone.