fast day seven: Daniel 4

Sometime after the other stories, God sends King Nebuchadnezzar another dream. He summons his go-to guy Daniel and tells him what it was. Daniel tells him, it comes true almost immediately, the end. That's the basic plot of this chapter. But the interesting part to me comes from this being a first person announcement the king makes to all his subjects. It's not normal for a politician to air his dirty laundry, so what happened? The key is in verses 2 and 3. Nebuchadnezzar has just been schooled by God.

Back in chapter two, after God told Daniel his dream and its meaning, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God's great wisdom. He sounded pretty impressed in 2:47. In chapter three, after God rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the flames, he praised God's great power in 3:28-29. But up until this chapter, he stopped short exactly where most people do. He acknowledged who God is and what He's done but refused to make Him his Lord. He had no intention of sharing his crown.

Many of us go to church and speak Christianese and read the Bible and claim to know who God is. But that fell short for Nebuchadnezzar, and it will fall short for us too. God has to be number one. And, really, I have to say, there isn't much biblical evidence for someone actually having a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ outside of making Him your Lord. The big-talkers who continue to live out their own plan, who are often so pleased with all "they" have accomplished on their own, who stay king of their world, will not be with us in heaven. Of course I say "us" because I hope any of us are taking seriously the goal of humbling ourselves to God's ultimate authority in every area of our lives.

It took seven years of "being humbled" for Nebuchadnezzar to learn the lesson of humility. I would like to say I have always taken 1 Peter 5:6 to heart and humbled myself under the mighty hand of God, but I've probably had my seasons of eating grass and growing bird claws over the years. (Not literally obviously, that would just be silly.) But I do struggle in some ways, with trying to take back the Lordship I've given Jesus over my life. I pray that I, and all of you, have truly made God our Lord. That we submit our will to His. That we can say, like Nebuchadnezzar, "praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble."