June 15: BUILDING THE RIGHT THINGS
I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. 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. Daniel 4:2-3
When Nebuchadnezzar thought it good to sit down and compose this decree to the world, it was entirely from the overflow of joy from his heart in coming to the knowledge of God and humbly repenting of his pride. He could not possibly have known that his personal testimony would land in canonized Scripture. As he pours out his heart “to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me” he goes into the surprising details of his humiliation. But first is the double exclamation, “How great are His signs, And how mighty are His wonders!” The king of Babylon had earlier demonstrated his intent for the permanence of his own kingdom (remember the archaeological discovery of Babylonian bricks marked: Babylon! May it last forever!). But now, in recognition of God’s sovereignty, Nebuchadnezzar no longer claimed constancy and immutability for his own kingdom, for he had made a full surrender to the Most High God.
The king’s earlier statements about God were true, but he had not internalized truth to the point of receiving cleansing and forgiveness. As yet, he was unaware of his desperate need. After Daniel made known to the king his dream, he stated: “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets…” (2:47) Following the deliverance of Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace, the king exclaimed: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” (3:28) But, the humbling of his pride finally brought the king to the point of making God his own God. He eventually came to realize that he had built his pride upon that which God had given him: The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). Therefore, he declares from the heart that it is [God’s] kingdom [that] is an everlasting kingdom, And [it is] [God’s] dominion [that endures] from generation to generation.
And this is exactly as it should be. Every one of us tends to build our own little kingdom. We want it to be a certain way, but even in the rare cases where men succeed in building their domain as they want it, it cannot satisfy the human soul which is designed by the Creator to relate to Him. It should come as a great relief to know that soon all earthly powers will finally fall. Thank God that they will all be superseded by a kingdom which the God of heaven will set up. This is the only kingdom that will last forever. Instead of working so feverishly to build our fragile earthly “kingdoms”, our greatest need is to seek the counsel of the LORD in the building of a character that is fit to reside in His glorious domain. In order to gain the traits of character that accompany citizenship in the everlasting kingdom, we must conquer and defeat undesirable traits here and now. In the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar, we will learn of a severe chastening that he received from the LORD, who said:
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19