Large and In Charge or Small and On The Crawl? 

“The tree that you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds –Your Majesty, you are that tree!  You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.”  Daniel 4:20-22

Reading about King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel can be a short study of human nature.  I say this because I can look at my life and easily see how he does the things that we read about.  His journey from greatness to being under the bottom of the barrel and then back to greatness was an incredible lesson for him — and ought to be a convicting lesson for us.

What we read in Daniel 4 is simply a continuation of  life as Nebuchadnezzar had been living it in the first 3 chapters of the book.  The book of Daniel begins with Nebuchadnezzar adding to his greatness, at least in the eyes of the world, by attacking Jerusalem and carrying off not only the treasures of the city, but the brightest and best of the people of Israel.  As Nebuchadnezzar added to his kingdom and increased his portrayal of greatness, he wasn’t doing it alone.  He likely thought these victories were all of his doing — we usually do, don’t we? — but the second verse of Daniel tells  us that the Lord delivered these things into his hand. 

In the second chapter of Daniel, we see Nebuchadnezzar brought low.  Oh, he still sees himself as great and in charge, but he is living in fear and anxiety because of a dream that he knows is filled with meaning that he simply doesn’t understand.  It is at this time that Daniel is given the opportunity by God to explain to the king that there is a God who is sovereign and both knows and can reveal the mysteries that are troubling the king.  As God uses Daniel to tell the king the dream along with its meaning, Nebuchadnezzar begins the journey back to greatness as he recognizes God for who He is.  Nebuchadnezzar says to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”  He acknowledges that God indeed is sovereign and has ultimate authority over nations and over kings — including him.

So far, so good.  But as happens so often in life, being brought low only humbled Nebuchadnezzar before God for a period of time.  Daniel chapter 3 finds the king back to his old ways; tooting his own horn and having others toot it as well.  It is here that we find the famous account of Nebuchadnezzar setting up a national idol — an image of gold some 90 feet tall for the people to worship.  It is in this incident that we read of three Israelites who refuse to bow down and worship the image because they are faithful and committed servants of God; so He alone will receive their worship.  After God rescues them from their sentence of death, Nebuchadnezzar again recognizes that the God Almighty, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is a sovereign God who alone can rescue His people as He did.  He proclaims about the Most High God, “to the nations and peoples of every language, who live in all the earth  . . . How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!  His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1 & 3)

It is following this proclamation that God gives Nebuchadnezzar another dream that Daniel interprets as describing Nebuchadnezzar’s greatness and his being brought low once again.  A year after this dream, Nebuchadnezzar seems to forget his previous lessons in humility and in God’s sovereign power.  As he walks on the roof of his royal palace, he begins to survey all that he has built and done.  He is so impressed with his handiwork that he congratulates himself on his mighty power and glorious majesty.  Whoops!  Wrong answer!  God announces with a voice from heaven that Nebuchadnezzar’s previous dream was about to be fulfilled.  He goes from being “large and in charge” to being “very small and on the crawl”.  He would be driven out from among the people and live with the wild animals.  For seven years, he would eat the grass of the fields.  “His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”  Eww . . . That definitely sounds like he sank even below the bottom of the barrel. 

When you are under the bottom of the barrel, there are very few places to look but up.  We read that at the end of the seven years, Nebuchadnezzar looks up to heaven and his sanity is restored.  His humility has returned as he praises the Most High God who lives forever.  In the end, Nebuchadnezzar concludes that he will “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.” (Daniel 4:37)

Nebuchadnezzar is not alone, you know.  There are times that you and I are seen walking down that same path.  We are pursuing God in obedience and humility and He is winning the victories in our life.  It feels so good, and at times even so easy, that pride begins to slowly crawl into our life.  Before we know it, we are all over the place taking credit for the work God has done, and is doing.  Look out!  Just as God is able to lift up the humble, he is effective at bringing down the proud. 

Rather than continuing to go through this up and down cycle, wouldn’t it be better to learn the lesson once and “walk humbly with our God” on a continual basis?  Could we immerse our self in God’s presence through His Word and His Spirit to serve as “pride detectors”, keeping us from exalting our self so that there is not a need for God to have to bring us low?  Will we surround our self with godly counsel who will have the courage to warn us when pride begins appearing in our life?

I pray that we learn the lesson repeated by God through scripture, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

He is the sovereign God, ruler and authority over all.  Will you and I live like He is the ruler and authority over us?