God Warns Us of Pride
What is your response to warnings that you receive?
Verse of the Day
‘But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.’
Today’s Devotional
There have been certain times in my life when God was trying to get my attention. A few of those times, I listened. Many times I did not.
Today’s story is about a Babylonian king named Nebuchadnezzar. We’re going to call him Neb. Neb was king of the Babylonian empire and headed up the victory over Judah (and Jerusalem), taking many of the people captive and bringing them back to Babylon. King Neb ordered that the many of the strong, healthy young men from Judah’s royal and noble families be brought to the palace and trained for royal service. Daniel was one of those young men.
Let me pause here and give proper credit to God and one of his faithful daughters. When I decided to start writing on the theme of pride, it just so happened that I had homework to do for a Bible study I’m in, which included watching a video lecture by Beth Moore, which happened to be about Daniel chapter 4. The lesson was all about Neb and pride. And I had already researched and chosen the verses on pride, which included today’s verse. God has much to teach me about pride, and He used Beth Moore as a teacher.
Today’s verse is actually from chapter 5 of Daniel, where Daniel is telling a new king, Belshazzar, about what happened to Neb. But the most fascinating part of Neb’s story is that he wrote about his pride and the discipline of God and then his repentance. And he sent copies of his story to everyone he could think of. Neb’s story is captured in Daniel 4.
Neb had a crazy dream, and the only one able to interpret the dream for him was God, who used Daniel as His mouthpiece. Daniel was scared to tell King Neb the meaning of the dream, which was that the discipline of God was going to rain down on him. And here’s what that discipline looked like: Neb would be driven from society, live in the fields with the animals, and eat grass like a cow. For seven “periods of time”, which we guess to be 7 years.
When Daniel interpreted the dream, Ned was told that he would live like a crazy outcast until he learned that “the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world”, and that he would be restored to sanity when he learned that God is the actual King.
Neb did not heed the warning. Neb did not choose to bow to the Most High at that point. Instead, a year later, while Neb was patting himself on the back for his might, power, and kingdom, the Lord spoke and ushered Neb straight out of the kingdom and into the wilderness. “He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails were like birds’ claws.” (Daniel 4:33)
Here’s what we can learn from Neb. We have a choice when we find ourselves in a difficult season. We usually don’t know if we are receiving divine discipline or if we are struggling with living in a broken world. Either way, we could learn a lot from the end of Neb’s story. I’ll let him tell you:
“After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.” (Daniel 4:34-37)
There are so many stories in the Bible of people being brought down by pride. In all the instances I have studied, God always gives a warning before any discipline is given. These warnings may not be in the form of crazy dreams. The warnings could be physical symptoms, troubled relationships, or any other method God sees fit to get our attention. Let’s be people who heed the warnings about our pride instead of barreling ahead and assuming those warnings don’t apply to us.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
When a human gives you a warning about something, do you generally heed it?
Looking back, can you see a time when God gave you a warning about something? Did you heed God’s warning? If you didn’t, how might things have been different if you had?
Do you see the kindness of God in His warnings?
Are you willing to ask God today if anything you are struggling with is a warning against pride? Go ahead, ask Him.
Where do you see any roots of pride in your heart? If you do, now is the time to ask God to pull them out.