Friday
Do you remember that the prophet, Jeremiah had said God would use Nebuchadnezzar to be His instrument in bringing punishment to the Israelites?
(Jer. 25:8-11). But God also promised, that he would punish Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) for his arrogance and pride (Isaiah 14). In our reading today, Nebuchadnezzar is given a dream that only Daniel is able to interpret with the help from God. In this message (as told by Nebuchadnezzar) the king had a dream that greatly troubled him and so he called in Daniel to interpret the dream. Did you notice that the King called Daniel not only by his Babylonian name of Belteshazzar but he also called him by his Hebrew name? I think this means that Nebuchadnezzar is in his own way recognizing the authority of the Hebrew God.
Daniel was at first afraid to explain the dream, but the King insisted and so Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar of events that would happen to the King.
The dream was fulfilled – Nebuchadnezzar for a time (seven years) behaved as an insane man, driven from society and living in the fields with the wild animals. But afterwards, the King praises God and his sanity is restored. It seems that sometimes, we have to be brought very low in order for God to get our attention. We must never place ourselves or think of ourselves as better than anyone else, and certainly (like Nebuchadnezzar did) think of ourselves better than God.
You will notice that in the next two chapters (5 & 6) that both Kings have issues with arrogance and pride as well. As a result, while Darius was King, he allowed some of the high officers and administrators to trick him into having Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. I have to admit that it wasn’t until just a short time ago that I realized how old Daniel must have been by this time. As a child, I had heard this story and just assumed that Daniel was very young, but if you do the math, he was more likely to have been in his 80’s. Anyway, we know that God shut the mouths of the lions and Daniel was spared. What a message of salvation Daniel was able to convey to the people by his faith and trust in God. “He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” (6:27)
Praising God
Pastor Kathy