SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2013 8:06 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Restoration: The king’s deliverance
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
4:34-37, 1-3
Message of the verses: “1 Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: "May your peace abound! 2 “It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. 3 “How great are His signs And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom And His dominion is from generation to generation.”
34 "But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ’What have You done?’ 36 “At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. 37 "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.’”
The first thing the king did was praise the Lord (Daniel 4:34-35): 34 "But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ’What have You done?’
The first thing that the king did when he was done with the disciplines of the Lord was to lift up his eyes to the Lord, something that we see in Scripture in places like Psalm 121:1 where the psalmist writes “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, form where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Again the psalmist writes in Psalm 123:1 “I lift up my eyes to You, to You whose throne is in heaven.”
Compendium is a word that means “A short comprehensive
account, a comprehensive but brief account of a subject, especially in book
form.” According to Warren Wiersbe what
we find in verses 34-35 is “a short concise compendium of biblical theology,
and what an exciting expression of worship!
Theology and doxology belong together (Rom. 11:33-36), for spiritual experience that
isn’t based on truth is only superstition.”
What the king needed to learn was that he was not in
control, which is what he thought he was, “’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?’” (Dan. 4:30)
Now we see in these verses that the king believes now that the Lord is
in charge and that people are not as important as he once though they were,
especially himself.
In verse 4:35b we read “But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And
among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him,
’What have You done?” Nebuchadnezzar was referring to the
sovereignty of God, a subject that Dr. Wiersbe speaks of briefly that we need
to hear and understand: “It’s too bad
that this wonderful Bible doctrine has been so maligned and misinterpreted by
amateur Bible students, because an understanding of God’s sovereignty brings
the believer assurance, strength, comfort, and the kind of surrender that
produces faith and freedom. The Bible
teaches both divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and when you accept both, there
is no contradiction of conflict.
No person is freer than the believer who surrenders to the sovereign
will of God. To ignore God’s sovereignty
is to exalt human responsibility and make man his own savior, but to deny
responsibility is to make man a robot without accountability. The Bible preserves a beautiful balance that
exalts God and enables His people to live joyously and victoriously no matter
what the circumstances might be (Acts 4:23-31; Rom. 8:31-39).
“Because
God is sovereign, He can do as He pleases and nobody can hinder Him or call Him
to account (Rom. 9:14-23). The heart of
sinful man rebels at the very idea of a sovereign God for the human heart wants
to be ‘free’ or all outside control (Ps. 2:1-6). Sinners think they are ‘free’ and don’t
realize how much they are in bondage to their fallen nature and to the forces
of Satan and the world. Charles Spurgeon
was very balanced in his theology, and he said:
‘Most men quarrel with this [the sovereignty of God]. But mark, the thing that you complain of in
God is the very thing that you live in yourselves. Every man likes to feel that he has a right
to do with his own as he pleases. We all
like to be little sovereigns. Oh, for a
spirit that bows always before the sovereignty of God.’
“The Most
High God is so wise and powerful that He can ordain that His creatures have the
freedom to make decisions and even disobey His revealed will, and yet He can
accomplish His divine purposes on this earth.
‘Man’s will is free because God is sovereign,’ said A. W. Tozer, who was
not a confessed Calvinist. ‘A God less
than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.’ (From A. W.
Tozer’s “The knowledge of the Holy.)
Submitting to God’s sovereign will didn’t make Nebuchadnezzar any less
of a man; in fact, this commitment transformed him from living like a beast to
living like a man.”
We had promised to look at verses 1-3 at this part of
Daniel because it is connected to when he had committed his life to the Lord
after the seven years of acting like a beast.
What we see is that Nebuchadnezzar was doing what all believers are to
do and that is to tell others about their experience in meeting God. We would call it “giving our testimony.”
In the end, God’s Word was fulfilled in the life of
Nebuchadnezzar as he was restored to his throne, and the leadership of the
people of Babylon. We won’t hear from
him again in the book of Daniel except when Daniel is much older and
Nebuchadnezzar has died, for in the next chapter of Daniel we will see the
destruction of Babylon and Daniel will speak to Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson about
this incident that just happened.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: What can I learn
from this chapter of Daniel? I can learn
that God truly hates pride, for pride was the first sin ever sinned by Lucifer
who is now known as Satan. Whenever I am
proud I suppose that I am acting like him and I surely don’t want to do that.
I can also learn that God is in control, even for those
who don’t know He is in control, for Nebuchadnezzar found this out. God is in control of my life and it is my
desire to bring glory to Him in all that I do.
I can also learn from this chapter that I am to love
others as Daniel loved Nebuchadnezzar, for Daniel was surely talking to him
about the One True God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to be content, to not be proud, and
to give support to those who are in need of it.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46:1
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in
trouble.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Down to hell” (2 Peter 2:4)
Today’s Bible
Question: “What king married a daughter
of Pharaoh?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
6/9/2013 9:17 AM
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