In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream warning him that his pride and confidence in his own power are leading him toward a great humbling. Daniel interprets the dream and tells the king to turn from his ways and recognize that God is sovereign, but Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t listen. A year later, he looks over Babylon and proudly declares that he has built it all by his own power and majesty—and almost immediately, everything is taken from him. In this reflection, we talk about one of the most important lessons we can learn from Nebuchadnezzar: God is God, and we are not. Every good gift we have, including our abilities, opportunities, accomplishments, and even our ability to work hard, ultimately comes from God. We don’t want to spend our lives “kicking against the goads.” Instead, let’s recognize God’s gifts, give God the glory, and live with humility and gratitude.
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Good morning. It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning. I hope you’re doing well and that you’ve got a good day planned. I tell people that we’re in that season now where September has arrived, school is in session here in Starkville, the college kids are going about their daily routines, and we’re getting back into the regular rhythms of life. And as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a man of routines. I like routines. I appreciate knowing what’s coming next. So I’m glad that we’re settling back into the rhythms of this season.
I hope part of your routine is these daily reflections. I hope they’re helpful to you and that they add something to your faith and to your life.
Today we’re going to do something a little different with Daniel chapter 4. There are several sections in the chapter, and honestly, I really want to look at the first three sections together. That’s verses 1 through 33, which is a lot of Scripture, so I’m not going to read every single verse. I’m going to hit some of the highlights and let’s see what’s happening here.
The first part is basically Nebuchadnezzar telling his story. He says, “I was living in peace in my home and prospering in my palace. Life was good. Everything was going great.” And then he had a dream.
He says that this dream frightened him. His thoughts and the visions in his head terrified him, so he called all the wise men of Babylon together and asked them to tell him what the dream meant. And, of course, they couldn’t.
Then Daniel comes in. By this point Daniel is in a position of power and influence because of his previous interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Nebuchadnezzar says that he knows Daniel has the spirit of the holy gods in him and that no mystery is too difficult for him.
So he tells Daniel the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree in the middle of the earth. It was enormous. It was strong. Its top reached the heavens. It was beautiful, it produced abundant fruit, and animals found shelter under it. But then a holy watcher came down from heaven and said, “Cut down the tree. Cut off its branches. Strip away its leaves and scatter its fruit. But leave the stump and the roots in the ground.”
And then the dream takes an even stranger turn. The mind of the person represented by the tree would be changed from a human mind to the mind of an animal, and seven times would pass over him.
Daniel hears this and is deeply troubled. He tells Nebuchadnezzar that he wishes this dream were about his enemies, because he knows what it means.
The tree is Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar has grown great and strong. His greatness has reached the heavens, and his sovereignty has extended to the ends of the earth. But Daniel tells him that the tree is going to be cut down. He is going to be humbled. He is going to lose his position and his power until he learns that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of mortals and gives them to whomever he wishes.
And Daniel even gives him some advice. He says, essentially, “Repent. Turn from your sins. Practice righteousness. Show mercy to the oppressed. Maybe your prosperity will be prolonged.”
But Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t listen.
A year later, he’s walking on the roof of his palace, looking out over Babylon, and he says, “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built by my own power and for my own glory and majesty?”
And while those words are still in his mouth, judgment comes.
He loses his kingdom. He is driven away from human society. He lives among the animals. He eats grass like an ox. He is humbled in a profound way.
And I think there is a really powerful lesson here for all of us.
Nebuchadnezzar is the great king. He is powerful. He has accomplished incredible things. He has built Babylon into this magnificent kingdom. And yet he has forgotten something incredibly important:
God is God, and we are not.
That may be one of the most important lessons we can ever learn.
There’s a reason Proverbs talks about pride going before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride has a way of convincing us that we are more powerful, more important, more capable, and more in control than we really are.
We can begin to think that we have made ourselves.
But we haven’t.
If you have worked hard and accomplished a lot in your life, who gave you the ability to work? Who gave you your health? Who gave you the opportunities you’ve had? Who gave you the people who helped you along the way?
If you’re brilliant and you’ve accomplished great things because of your intellect, who gave you that mind?
If you have musical talent or athletic ability, who gave you that talent?
If you’re a gifted administrator or teacher, who gave you those gifts?
If you were born into wealth or opportunity, who gave you the circumstances into which you were born?
James tells us that every good and perfect gift is from above. If there is something good in our lives, ultimately, it is a gift from God.
Even our ability to work hard is a gift from God.
Even the things we think we accomplished all on our own were accomplished using gifts that God gave us.
God is God, and we are not.
Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that lesson the hard way. He had to be humbled. He had to lose things. He had to experience embarrassment and suffering before he finally understood that he wasn’t the one in charge.
And that makes me think of one of my favorite lines in Scripture. In one of Paul’s retellings of his conversion in Acts, Jesus says to Saul, “Why do you kick against the goads?”
The goad was basically an ancient version of the rumble strips you find on the side of the road. You know what happens when you drift off the road and your tires hit those things? They get your attention really quickly.
That’s what the goads did. They were there to keep animals moving in the right direction. If an animal kicked against them, it only hurt the animal more.
And sometimes I think we do the same thing.
We kick against the goads.
God gives us reminders. God gives us opportunities to turn around. God gives us moments where we recognize that we aren’t in control. And instead of listening, we keep kicking against the goads.
Nebuchadnezzar had plenty of opportunities to learn this lesson before he finally did.
So maybe today is a good day for us to learn it a little more easily.
God is God, and we are not.
Everything we have is ultimately a gift. Every ability. Every opportunity. Every accomplishment. Every good thing.
So let’s not take credit for what God has given us.
Let’s give God praise.
And let’s remember that humility isn’t about thinking less of ourselves. It’s about remembering that everything good in us and everything good we have ultimately comes from God.
Nebuchadnezzar had to lose almost everything before he learned that lesson.
Let’s not make the same mistake.
Let’s give God thanks today for all that God has given us, for all that God has allowed us to accomplish, and for all that God continues to do in our lives.
Thanks for being with us today. Tomorrow we’re going to pick up with Nebuchadnezzar coming to his senses, if you will, and we’ll see what happens when he finally recognizes who is really in charge.
Have a great day. I’ll see you tomorrow.