Daniel 3:7. "Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image which king Nebuchadnezzar had set up."

The only person who deserves this kind of worship is God. In fact, later Daniel will have a vision in which all peoples, nations, and languages will come to worship Him, and "his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." (Daniel 7:14). That is what this world is striving toward, and what we are naturally being led to. Our longing for God is built into us, and the sad story of fallen humanity is one of us trying to satisfy that longing with other things. Eventually, God promises us, we will all get there; the whole world will be in right relationship with Him and will worship Him accordingly.

Meanwhile, though, we are constantly finding idols to worship. Some we find on our own, and others are forced on us by unrighteous leaders, like King Nebuchadnezzar. The response of the people described here, of them all falling to the ground and worshiping at the sound of the music, is not natural. The people, left to their own devices, would never all choose to worship this golden image. Again, the only one we will all naturally come to worship is God. So why do they do this? Because Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to under pain of death, "and whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace." (Daniel 3:6). So the people started this worship because they were threatened with death if they didn't. I'm sure, as time went on, it became just part of their day, no big deal, and one would wonder why anyone would object to it - it seems rather harmless, after all, why would you refuse if it would cost your life? That question will ultimately be answered by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faithful Jews, and God will reveal his glory through them. (Daniel 3:13-30).

Nebuchadnezzar's command that the people worship this golden image is a demand born of power. He is showing his dominion over his people by forcing them to worship what he tells them to. We are on similar ground whenever a government forces its people to do something unreasonable. I feel like I could rewrite this verse as "As soon as all the peoples saw the pride flag being raised, they gave it deference." Or "As soon as all the peoples heard that there was a COVID "vaccine", they flocked to have it injected, and ostracized anyone who did not." Or "As soon as all the peoples were told to honor transvestites, they had them perform for their children." None of these are reasonable responses, but in each case the people's reaction was preceded by the government telling the people to "worship" these things. The people then acquiesced, at first from fear of being ostracized (or maybe, in the case of COVID, a fear of death that had been exaggerated by the government). In cases like this, and many others, as people continue to acquiesce in unreasonable behavior, it becomes normalized, and they do not think it is any big deal. The idol, and the leadership promoting it, wins (for a while, that is, until God steps in, which He always eventually does).

We've had a few people stand up to the idols being forced on us these last few years. Many have been punished for it. Eventually, enough, or the right ones, will push back so that the people will come to see the folly of what they have been doing. For now, though, those who see it for what it is seem to be strangers in a strange land, much like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.