Daniel 4:28-33 Boasting Problem
Nebuchadnezzar has been warned about his impending judgment but he has a boasting problem that brings him down. He is humbled by God.
It has been a year since Daniel stood before Nebuchadnezzar and gave him the interpretation of his dream. A year for him to contemplate mending his ways. A year to wonder when the ‘hammer would fall’. A year to forget the warning and be lulled into a false sense of security. A year for his pride to grow even higher.
How did Nebuchadnezzar spend that year? Was he ‘working on his issues’ as Daniel pleaded with him to do? Was he wrapped up in increasing his kingdom and making himself even more grand than before? Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder, just like Solomon was. He may have been engaged in a project that was the very thing that brought him to this boasting point. “Look what I just finished! My name will be remembered FOREVER for what I have done.”
When Daniel admonished Nebuchadnezzar to ‘clean up his act’, pride was not mentioned. Nebuchadnezzar was told to “practice righteousness” and to “show mercy to the oppressed” but not to humble himself before God. Maybe “practicing righteousness”, to Daniel, included this area. Apparently, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t get that message; at the time. Or, if he did, he forgot it by the time the events described today take place.
One thing that I find AMAZING is how God made SURE Nebuchadnezzar would remember THE center of this lesson. I sometimes have trouble remembering exactly what precipitated my lessons. Nebuchadnezzar was not only given the dream as a warning but an audible voice at the moment of his downfall. Nebuchadnezzar COULD have looked back and said, “It was simply ‘time’ for the lesson to start.” Instead, he remembered the very words and attitude that brought him t this point in his life. He had begun to believe his own ‘press’. He saw himself as the one who had brought about ALL that he surveyed. He ‘built it’ for HIS OWN NAME’S sake. He gave no credit to ANYONE else for the mighty nation he saw before him.
GOD built Babylon for HIS purposes. He could have let Nebuchadnezzar’s comments go. He could have let the man continue to delude himself. But God wasn’t finished with Nebuchadnezzar yet. And the Nebuchadnezzar He intended to use needed to be a humble man. NOT one who puts himself in the place of God.
I was thinking about something while getting ready to write today. I was thinking about how we often try and hide the ‘lessons’ God has brought us through; especially the most humiliating ones. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t want to hide this one. HE wrote about it boldly. The historians of Babylon apparently didn’t share Nebuchadnezzar’s candor and did not record this period in his story. God didn’t let it go by unnoticed. I would think that something this lengthy would be included but it wasn’t my job to record events in those days.
When I was younger, I had an experience that I embellished a little. It took me YEARS to correct the story and even longer to learn the lesson for the NEED to correct it. In my ‘original version’ I was a main player from the beginning. I drove the story from the first meeting to the final result. In truth, I was brought into the story part of the way in but did set the direction afterwards. GOD did the work from there and we went along for the journey.
I know, I’ve probably made you curious about what the experience was. That’s not the important part of the lesson I learned afterwards. The humility of NOT being the ‘main force’ is. Along with the NEED to be completely truthful. Sometimes I can be VERY ‘forceful’ and ‘determined’ in my life. I’ve shared stories where those traits won the battle I was facing. But there are also times when those same traits brought me low. Those are the harder stories to share. Nebuchadnezzar laid himself bare for our benefit. No. Actually, he laid himself bare for God’s glory! THAT is the BEST reason for sharing ANY of the stories/lessons we go through.
GOD wrote a MARVELOUS ending to Nebuchadnezzar’s story. It HAD to be told! A story that brought honor to God and showed HIS hand in the lives of man. A God who cares enough about even those who don’t call Him Lord to work in their lives too. A God who is SO INVOLVED in His people’s lives that He will use WHATEVER & WHOMEVER He needs to bring about the result He needed in His children’s lives. He does NOT leave us to be tossed about by the wind. He drives the winds that bring change in our hearts and lives.
Father God, thank You for using WHATEVER is needed to bring me closer to You. Thank You for the lessons; even the ones that I really don’t want to see the light of day. EACH of them has created in me a heart that is searching for more of You every day.
For anyone who is interested in the experience I referenced earlier, here it is:
When I was a young teen, two or three of my friends (I can’t remember for certain which it was) came to me after meeting a man on the rail road tracks near our homes. They told me that this person asked them for food. They also said that they would bring him some. In my ‘original version’ I said I was with them when they met this person.
After they cam to me, I felt compelled to try and gather food for him. We went to our own houses first and our mothers graciously contributed to our efforts after we told them how serious we were to help this man. After our homes, we canvased the whole neighborhood. We collected two grocery bags full of supplies for this man.
Once we had all the food assembled, we returned to the place where they had met the man. He was nowhere to be found. We were confused as to what to do next. I suggested we pray and ask God to show us who really needed this food.
We went into the train yard and began looking. We saw an open boxcar with a man sitting in the doorway. We approached him and asked him if he was hungry. He said that he had just been praying for some food. He told us that he had left his family several years ago and that he was trying to get back to them.
We KNEW that God had worked all this together so we could help him. I’m FOREVER grateful that God let me participate in what He had started through my friends. And I will FOREVER be grateful that He impressed on my heart the lesson of humility and full honesty. I don’t have to be the ‘soloist’ or the ‘choir director’. Being part of His ‘choir’ is enough.
