speculative abstraction. This is faith in the furnace. It is a firm conviction of the sovereignty of God in the midst of all things contrary. These men knew that God is sovereign, and therefore it was not foolish but wise for them to entrust their lives to him in this matter. 2. They knew the Scriptures. This is the reason they refused to bow down: God had forbidden it. But knowing the Scriptures is also important for the reason that moral issues seldom come to us in black-and-white terms. The world