Daily Devotionals

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place Week 4: Tuesday

"King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper." Daniel 4:27

Not long ago, I was over-eager working out at the gym. I saw someone else picking up a weight that I considered to be heavy. Upon seeing this weight, my competitive spirit believed I could lift it. I tried but failed unsuccessfully. I was slightly embarrassed. Pride tends to do that. This was a minor embarrassment, but pride leads to many more significant embarrassing moments. Scripture teaches that pride goes before a fall. 

Nebuchadnezzar received a clear warning to let go of the pride in his life in Daniel 4. He had a dream that he did not understand. Daniel had earned a reputation for being able to interpret dreams when he interpreted the king's dream in Daniel 2. Because of this reputation, he turned to Daniel for help interpreting this dream. Daniel explained that this dream was another warning to Nebuchadnezzar. He was told that if he did not turn from his pride and wicked ways, he was literally going to lose his mind. If he did not honor God as the one true God, he would lose his kingdom, home, and everything important to him and live like a cow. 

After interpreting this dream for Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel pleaded with him to repent. He wanted a better story for King Nebuchadnezzar. He knew that “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). This teaching was true for Nebuchadnezzar, and it is true for us today. Pride always comes before a fall. The fall may look different than Nebuchadnezzar’s fall would look, but it will be a fall nonetheless. We cannot get away with our pride unscathed. God wants better for us. The falls we face due to pride are a wake-up call. They are meant to call us out of our pride and to live differently. The question is, will we heed this warning about pride in Scripture and turn away from it?

Perhaps you, like Nebuchadnezzar, are also in need of repentance. Has pride gotten the best of you? Have you been living as if the world revolves around you, focused only on yourself? I plead with you the same way Daniel pleaded with Nebuchadnezzar: turn away from your pride. God does not tolerate any ounce of it in our lives.

Moving toward action

Take a few minutes to pray. Ask God to reveal any areas of your life where pride may have crept in. Then, prepare to listen to any areas He may reveal to you. As He reveals any pride in your life, confess it to Him. Ask Him to help you as you seek to turn away from that pride.

Going Deeper

Daniel 4:10-27

“‘While I was lying in my bed, this is what I dreamed. I saw a large tree in the middle of the earth. 11 The tree grew very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 12 It had fresh green leaves, and it was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. All the world was fed from this tree.

13 “‘Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw a messenger,[a] a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 The messenger shouted,

“Cut down the tree and lop off its branches!
    Shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit!
Chase the wild animals from its shade
    and the birds from its branches.
15 But leave the stump and the roots in the ground,
    bound with a band of iron and bronze
    and surrounded by tender grass.
Now let him be drenched with the dew of heaven,
    and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the field.
16 For seven periods of time,
    let him have the mind of a wild animal
    instead of the mind of a human.
17 For this has been decreed by the messengers[b];
    it is commanded by the holy ones,
so that everyone may know
    that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world.
He gives them to anyone he chooses—
    even to the lowliest of people.”

18 “‘Belteshazzar, that was the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now tell me what it means, for none of the wise men of my kingdom can do so. But you can tell me because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.’

Daniel Explains the Dream

19 “Upon hearing this, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was overcome for a time, frightened by the meaning of the dream. Then the king said to him, ‘Belteshazzar, don’t be alarmed by the dream and what it means.’

“Belteshazzar replied, ‘I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you! 20 The tree you saw was growing very tall and strong, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see. 21 It had fresh green leaves and was loaded with fruit for all to eat. Wild animals lived in its shade, and birds nested in its branches. 22 That tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.

23 “‘Then you saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, “Cut down the tree and destroy it. But leave the stump and the roots in the ground, bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him live with the animals of the field for seven periods of time.”

24 “‘This is what the dream means, Your Majesty, and what the Most High has declared will happen to my lord the king. 25 You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. 26 But the stump and roots of the tree were left in the ground. This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.

27 “‘King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.’