SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/8/2013 9:22 AM
My Worship Time: Focus:
Humiliation: The king’s
discipline
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
4:28-33
Message of the
verses: “28 "All this happened
to Nebuchadnezzar the king. 29 “Twelve months later he was walking on the roof
of the royal palace of Babylon. 30 “The king reflected and said, ’Is this not
Babylon the great, which I
myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’
31 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying,
’King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from
you, 32 and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will
be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle,
and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the
realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’ 33
"Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from
mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the
dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like
birds’ claws.”
I have wanted to put
into one of these Spiritual Diaries on the fourth chapter of Daniel a quote
from John MacArthur’s sermon on this chapter but have had a difficult time
locating it. Now that I have found it I
wish to add it to this SD. It has to do
with the name of the problem that Nebuchadnezzar had: “And his mind is literally to become that of
an animal. This is a
monstrous psychological affliction known as lycanthropy, from lucas wolf,
anthropos man. The wolf man. The werewolf concept comes from this. The
guy who thinks he's an animal.
“Raymond Harrison
recites a personal experience with a modern case similar to that of
Nebuchadnezzar that was observed in a mental hospital in 1946. And
Harrison wrote this and I
thought it was interesting. He said, "A great many doctors spend
an entire busy professional career without once encountering an instance of the
kind of monomania described in the book of Daniel. The present writer,
therefore, considers himself particularly fortunate to have actually observed a
clinical case of boanthropy.’
“And by the way,
boanthropy is the word boa, which means bull or cow. And that is a form of lycanthropy
where a person thinks they're a cow or a bull. Now this sounds kind of funny to
us, but it wasn't too funny, I'm sure, to the people who go around eating grass
and acting silly like that.
“Anyways, "they
observed," he says, "a clinical case of boanthropy in a British
mental institution in 1946. The patient was in his early 20s. He reportedly had
been hospitalized for about five years. His symptoms were well developed on
admission and diagnosis was immediate and conclusive. He was of average height
and weight with a good physique and excellent bodily health.’
“’His mental symptoms
included pronounced antisocial tendencies. And because of this, he spent the entire
day from dawn to dusk outdoors on the grounds of the institution. His daily
routine consisted of wandering around the magnificent lawns in which the
otherwise dingy hospital situation was graced.
And it was his custom to pluck up and eat handfuls of the grass as he
went along. On observation, he was seen to discriminate between grass and
weeds. And on inquiry from the attendant, the writer was told the diet of this
patient consisted exclusively of grass from hospital lawns. He never ate institutional
food with other inmates and his only drink was water.’”
“"The writer was
able to examine him cursorily and the only physical abnormality noted consisted
of a lengthening of the hair and a coarse, thickened condition of the
fingernails.
Without institutional care, the patient would have manifested precisely
the identical physical conditions as those mentioned in Daniel 4.’”
Now we will go back to
the verses from Daniel chapter four that we are looking at today. The first thing we can look at from verse
twenty-eight is that the writer is changed, and likely to Daniel for there is
no more first person used, but the third person “the king” is used. We also can see that God’s Word was fulfilled
even though it took twelve months, for we can see the longsuffering of God to
give Nebuchadnezzar those twelve months to repent, but since he did not and
since he began to again boast of the things that he did instead of giving glory
to God he was changed into the likeness of an animal for the next seven years.
““The king reflected
and said, ’Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for
the glory of my majesty?’” These were the fatal words that
Nebuchadnezzar spoke that was actually the straw that broke the camel’s back
and then God would speak to him from heaven.
The sin he was committing was pride and we looked at the different times
pride and proud were used in the Psalms and Proverbs in an earlier SD. Dr. Wiersbe writes “We never know when God’s voice
will speak or never know when God’s voice will speak or His hand touch our
lives. Whether it’s the call of Moses in
Midian (Ex. 3), the drafting of Gideon to lead the army (Jud. 6), the
opportunity of David to kill a giant (1 Sam. 17), the summons of the four
fishermen to leave all and follow Christ (Matt. 4:18-22), or the warning that
life has come to an end (Luke 12:16-21), God has every right to break into our
lives and speak to us. What the king had
learned from Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, he now heard from
heaven! ‘No man knows when his hour will
come’ (Ecc. 9:12, NIV).”
It is not sure where
Nebuchadnezzar was located when he began to act like a beast, but we do know
that his kingdom would not be ended for God had promised through Daniel that he
would return to lead Babylon, and God had a purpose for him to return, for
Nebuchadnezzar would write most of this chapter and send it out to those in his
kingdom which would bring glory to God and for that matter is still bringing
glory to God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is not good to be proud for after all it
was God who created all of us, and we can do nothing for the cause of Christ
when we are proud, which is the first thing that we are to do, bring glory to
God. Selfishness is another thing we are
not to be, and both selfishness and pride are two sins that we can easily fall
into if we are not watching and praying as Jesus spoke of in Mark 14:38 “"Keep
watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.’”
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to guide my steps today
that I may bring glory to His name.
Memory verses for the week:
2Cor. 5:17-21
17 Therefore if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new
things have come. 18 Now all these
things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us
the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has
committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, s though God were making an
appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Christ” (Mark 15:34).
Today’s Bible Question: “Where
did God cast the angels that sinned?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
6/8/2013 10:58 AM
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