"Will you be a Glory Revealer"

Search Engines are not value neutral

Every day millions of people use search engines for business, research, entertainment, and other various tasks. Many likely use search engines the way they would use a dictionary or, in days gone by, a phone book. The assumption might be that the search engine is value neutral: you plug in search terms and your desired result pops up with the answer.

But we should recognize that few things in life are truly value neutral. Software programmers have made decisions on how search engines work, and they have made value judgments about how the search engine should function. There are several different ways their value judgments appear in the seemingly innocent use of a search engine. Some groups will attach key words to their sights in order to insure they get a higher ranking on your search. Other businesses will pay google add words to ensure that your businesses sight gets a higher listing and priority.

How does our culture today determine what it values the most? Well, just look at what we spend our money on and where we spend the majority of our time and you will see what we value the most. When we value other things or people more than we value God we fail to fulfill our greater purpose which is to reveal the Glory of God. If we are not revealing the glory of God we are robbing God of His glory. This is exactly what King Nebuchadnezzar was guilty of in our story today.

Daniel 4:4–27 ESV

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. 5 I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. 6 So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation. 8 At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods—and I told him the dream, saying, 9 “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. 10 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. 13 “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. 14 He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ 18 This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” 19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies! 20 The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, 21 whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived— 22 it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. 23 And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ 24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, 25 that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. 26 And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

INTRODUCTION

The sovereignty of God over nations and individuals has already been clearly established throughout Daniel. God gave wisdom to his faithful servants in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; God gave wisdom in the preservation of the three witnesses in the fiery furnace; now in chapter 4 God gives wisdom as Daniel confesses the sovereignty of God on the part of a heathen king.

The fact that this may be an accurate reflection of an actual event in history has frequently been minimized by scholars. No record is said to exist of such a change of heart by a Babylonian king. Yet, beyond the pages of Scripture some secondhand evidence exists that a strange event did occur in Nebuchadnezzar’s life.

It would make sense that the events that took place in this chapter and recognized a sovereign holy God were not likely to be recorded in the Chronicles of Babylon - especially when it is remembered that the Babylonian monarch was through of in terms of a deity.

OUTLINE OF EVENTS

Daniel 1 “The first of three exiles to Babylon found Daniel front stage with a test for the king and his subjects. Daniel had been preparing for this moment all of His Life.” We asked the question “Are you living for the City of God, or the City of Destruction.”

Daniel 2 “The King had a dream that he was asking the impossible task of being told what he dreamed as well as the dream itself or Daniel and his friends along with all the other wise men in the kingdom would be destroyed.” Your life shows what you believe about the God of the impossible.

Daniel 3 “The King set up an enormous statue that is to be worshiped by all his kingdom at the peril of being thrown into the fiery furnace. Everyone obeyed the command to bow except Daniels three friends. They told the king that they believed their God could and would deliver them from the flames, but even if in His sovereign will He chose not to they would still not bow.” “God delivers you in the furnace not from it.”

“Because God is supremely glorious, He will not allow others to steal His glory”

BIG IDEA: Will you be a Glory Stealer or Glory Revealer?

Note: You were created to reveal the Glory of God period. The most high rules the kingdom of men and gives to whom he will. The world’s purpose is to attempt to steal the glory of God and His image bearers.

What was God’s purpose in creating Israel, a people for himself. Down at the roots of displaying or revealing the glory of God is not as if God somehow needs us to be complete, or by giving Him glory God somehow becomes more glorious.

Let’s look at Genesis 11:4 “They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in heavens, and “let us make a name for ourselves.”

Now look at Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great.”

The people working on tower of Babel said, “Let us make a name for ourselves!” God chooses the father of the Jewish nation and says, “ I will make your name great.”

Glory = is synonomous with the word BEAUTY

When God say’s that he created us for his glory, it cannot mean that he created us so that He would become more glorious. It is impossible and unthinkable that God can become anymore glorious than he is right now. Anything that is not God came into being by God and through God.

1. A Glory revealer is a Telescope, not a Microscope

We are not called to be microscopes. We are called to be telescopes. Christians are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

That’s why we exist, why we were saved, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.

This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what you haven’t seen or what you quickly forget.

Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart!” (Ephesians 1:18), and we preach to our souls, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2).

When is the last time you laid down outside at night and gazed into the vastness of the universe. Everything is brought into focus and magnified. A telescope simply magnifies what is already there and exposes it in a big way. A microscope is trying to discover things that cannot yet be seen.

Remember in Romans 1 Paul tells us that man is without excuse for not knowing God. Namely we have seen his creation and the work of his hands in creation.

What is going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar is the result of his unwillingness to reveal the glory of God that he has now already seen revealed four times and yet he still chooses to make His name great and bring glory to His great name.

Isaiah 43:7 ESV

7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Isaiah 42:8 ESV

8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Note: This does not mean that his glory was somehow lacking. This is the goal of God which we must be aligned. When we choose to keep some of the glory for ourselves, or our own fame, or our own purposes we are robbing God of His GLORY.

We Are Made to Reflect God's Glory Paul likens us to shining stars, and the word shine means to reflect. The scientific term is albedo. It's a measurement of how much sunlight a celestial body reflects. The planet Venus, for example, has the highest albedo at .65. In other words, 65 percent of the light that hits Venus is reflected. Depending on where it's at in its orbit, the almost-a-planet Pluto has an albedo ranging from .49 to .66. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of .07. Only seven percent of sunlight is reflected, yet it lights our way on cloudless nights.

In a similar sense, each of us has a spiritual albedo. The goal? One hundred percent reflectivity. We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord. You cannot produce light. You can only reflect it

HOW DO WE MAGNIFY THE GLORY OF GOD?

We glorify God when we throw a spotlight on how great God is. To glorify God is to make much of him - in the same way a mother or father dotes on their children.

We make a big deal about everything our children do and say. Think of a new parent cannot help but post every picture they take on social media. Why? Because they are so proud of everything their children do, they want to make sure everyone knows.

*We magnify God by trusting His word.

Why is this true? It is true because trusting a person calls attention to that persons trustworthiness. However, when we take God at His word and show the trustworthiness of God it magnifies his greatness.

The scriptures are meant to protect our hearts, lead us to freedom and away from bondage, guards us from error.

Apparently King Nebuchadnezzar did not trust the revealed word that God had given him through Daniel, look what happens next in Daniel 4:28-33

Daniel 4:28–33 ESV

28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

How do we show God that we trust His word?

We Glorify God in our marriages.

We Glorify God in our children.

We Glorify God in our time and finances.

We Glorify God in our service.

*We magnify God by making Him the treasure of our hearts.

For King Nebuchadnezzar he made himself the treasure of his own heart. He saw all that he had accomplished as his doing and not God’s gracious mercy towards him. So, how do we know when God is the greatest treasure of our hearts?

1). When our greatest satisfaction is in Him.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. (He is enough)

We only find this kind of satisfaction when our highest pleasure is found not just in the gifts of God and what he gives you but in God Himself.

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Perhaps the reason you continually struggle in the desires of your heart is because you have not made God the greatest treasure of your hearts.

This is the first and greatest commandment is it not, love God! Rejoice in God! Be glad in God! Delight in God! Enjoy God! Be satisfied in the greatness of the beauty of who God is as the greatest treasure in the universe.

2). When our greatest joy is in Him.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

John Piper

If you can truly provide me with a joy that is fuller than completely full and longer than forever, I will stop being a Christian and follow your way.

God created us to enjoy the greatest and fullest and longest happiness in Him. In His presence, in the fullness of His joy, at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. And that is what Jesus died to restore. Because we have lost it through sin - by preferring things to God.

Note: Remember last week with Daniels three friends standing before the enormous statue. When the instruments were played everyone had to make a decision, were they as God’s created beings going to bow to what man has made, or are they going to bow to the creator.

HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE THE GREATEST JOY AND SATISFACTION IN GOD?

Intellectually (By knowing God) Daniel and His friends did not just know about God, they Knew God personally.

Aesthetically (By admiring God and His beauty) Nebuchadnezzar only recognized the beauty of what he had built. Daniels friends recognized the eternal beauty of the God of the universe.

Emotionally (By delighting in God and His ways) God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways. It seems strange that God would use Nebuchadnezzar becoming a Tarzan of Babylon to show and display His greatness and glory.

With our Wills (By dedicating ourselves to obeying His commands) Finding joy and satisfaction in God has to be lived out. If it just stays in this room or inside of our head then we will never truly experience the kingdom of God.

Note: Christians are to live sacrificial lives, to continue to fight sin, and to remain steadfast in the face of persecution.

2. A Glory revealer Exalts God’s Value’s not man’s

Note: Here is where we get off track and the pitfall of substitution arises - man centered philosophies that exalt human value in a way that distorts the work of redemption and belittles the primacy of God.

Man is the star of our contemporary drama and his comfort, his prosperity, and his health are the greatest goals. Of course God is there on the stage as well, but only as a kind of supporting actor to round out the picture for religious and cultural expectations.

God is not the supporting actor of this story. God is front and center of all that is going on with King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel has made it abundantly clear that God is the one who is moving all the pieces around on the chess board of our lives. I don’t know if any of you have ever played the game of chess before?

What is the purpose of chess. Well, we all know that it is a game of strategy. There are 400 distinct chess positions after two moves (first move white, followed by first move for black). There are 5,362 distinct chess positions or 8,902 total positions after three moves (Whites second move). By the time you get to seven moves the tell us that there are 3,2894,294,545 distinct chess positions.

Now, here is why I am giving you a lesson on chess. In the game of chess you are always trying to stay one move ahead of your opponent. The only way to do this is to try and guess what his next move might be. For the Christian there is only one move and that is God’s move, what God values, what he honors. However, the rest of the world is caught in a cycle of infinite moves in life to try and find meaning and add value to their lives. The problem is that no matter how many moves they make on the board of life they never truly find the move, the epic move that God has already made for us in sending his son to the cross.

Note: God values his own glory, which is most clearly and fully displayed through His Son Jesus Christ.

Note: It is clear what Nebuchadnezzar valued the most, his own name, his worth, his accomplishments.

“Is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

God has create us human beings, we can clearly see His wisdom in creating us to be creatures of value. Jesus coming to die on the cross demonstrate how much he values His Glory.

Values are a set of beliefs, priorities or views that we find most important in our lives, therefore, affecting the way we act and how we make our decisions.

For example, people who value relationships above everything else will act differently from those who value money or success over everything else in life. We are wired to act and react based on our values.

Does the Cross Show How Valuable I Am?

If Jesus sacrifice on the cross is the greatest display of God’s glory what does it say about me?

You have probably heard someone say something like: “If you want to see how much you are worth, look at the price God was willing to pay for you.” Or sometimes in comes in a little more ambiguous: “God don’t die for trash.”

Did God die for trash? I think this brings a misunderstanding to the meaning of the cross. The short answer is that man is not trash, but an amazing being in the image of God who has prostituted his dignity to such a degree that he is worse than trash. A trashed glory is worse than trash.

Man was created in the image of God. This means that he had a unique potential for God-glorifying worship. This is why he was made. This is precisely what he lost at the fall.

Romans 3:9–11 ESV

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

No one is righteous, not one, no one understands; or seeks after God.

The ultimate evil of human sin is the belittling of the glory of God by exchanging that glory for lesser things. Therefore, we are communicating to God that he is of less value than what he has made.

The more you exalt our own human capacity for good apart from God, the more you indict yourselves as morally corrupt and heinous. It is this precise throwing away the dignity and capacity to know and love God that constitutes our lowest evil. This is precisely why no one can come to God on their own, in their own self-righteousness, Jesus did not die for us because we had moral worth, or are basically good people. He died for us because we are sinners.

God’s indictment of Sin (Nebuchadnezzar’s day’s as an animal)

Nebuchadnezzar’s sin is a life size model of all sin.

We are cast down from the glory for which we were created; we distort the image of the glory of God.

The kingdom is taken away: God took Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom away much the way he took the keys to the garden away from Adam and Eve.

Driven out from Humanity: Adam and Eve were driven out from the garden away from God’s presence.

You will live with the animals, act like the animals, eat like the animals: The consequences of man’s rebellion against the glory of God, we are all now born into a sin nature, therefore, we live in a sinful fallen world, we act like a sinful fallen world, we fall prey to the sinful habits of a fallen sinful world.

WHAT DOES THE CROSS SAY?

1). Testifies to the infinite value of the Glory of God

Any value and worth that we have comes from God’s mercy and grace that he has chosen to bestow on us not because we somehow deserve anything God would give to us.

2). Testifies to the enormity of Human sin.

The belittling of the glory of God shows the depth of the depravity of man’s sin, and the desperate need we have for a Savior.

3). Testifies to the immeasurable Greatness of God’s Grace.

Daniel 4:34–37 ESV

34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to 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, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” 36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

3. A Glory revealer Looks Up not Down

King Nebuchadnezzar had been looking down at the earth for some seven years, now finally he looked up from his animal habitat to the God of his Salvation.

The problem with most of this world today is that they are still looking down at their animal habitat.

Nebuchadnezzar’s repentance and restoration to former glory is a vivid illustration of the benefits that God bestows on us. He begins to restore His tarnished image in us; touches of His glory appear again; we begin to function again as the royal children of God. Repentance is true turning of our life to God.

A turning that comes from a pure earnest desire and fear of God. It starts with the mortification of the flesh and of the old man, and in the regeneration whose sole end is to restore to us the image of God that has been disfigured and all but obliterated.

Baptism: The best picture we have of what takes place, we plug up the nose put someone under the water who is in essence saying I am no longer looking to this world to satisfy my, this old man bound to the beast of this world is dead, and the new man that is looking up to the kingdom of God has now come to life.

How Nebuchadnezzar is restored?

1). He confesses the Sovereignty of God

He establishes a kingdom that is end. God does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. God does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

This appears to be more of a confession of what he has now observed about God as sovereign. For the first time king Nebuchadnezzar confesses the covenantal activity of God, “from generation to generation.”

Note: some have struggled with the idea of Nebuchadnezzar having a true conversion however, this covenantal element provides a hint that he learned more from his experience than that God is sovereign.

2). He confesses the Creatureliness of Humankind.

“All inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing...”

The king no longer recognizes divine power as a merely theoretical level. He confesses that even the greatest of men is as nothing before the greatness of God. This is always marked by:

Dependence on God: this is a subdued heart; the creatureliness and dependence on God is seen. He is not autonomous; he is dependent and his true joy is found in joyful submission to the God of the universe.

Last week Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could not do anything to sway the will of the king, and they could not lessen the intensity of his burning fiery furnace. They only knew that they could not bow down to a false god. They were thrown into the flames of the fire depending on God alone for the outcome.

How do we show we depend on God?

We Pray - when you pray you demonstrate dependence on God. The biblical command is to “present your requests to God.

We Honor God’s word - We not only read the Bible everyday but we do as James 1:22 we become a doer of the word.

We do what is right - we learn to do what is right and leave the results up to God. We will see in a few weeks when Daniel is before king Darius he does what is right before the king.

We become a living sacrifice - Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. When you become a living sacrifice you stop living for yourself and start living for the Lord.

We Abide in Christ - John 15:4 Jesus tells us to “Abide in Him as He abides in us and then we will bear fruit.”

We refuse to Worry - God cares for his children, even more than the grass that He clothes with flowers and the birds that he daily feeds. Learn to cast all of your cares on him because he cares for you.

Note: Before this the king was an insecure worrier only sacrificing for his own good and Good and glory; only abiding in his good pleasure; only doing what was right in his eyes.

3). He confesses the truthfulness and righteousness of God.

“All of whose words are truth, and His ways are justice.”

Note: There is no doubt that he has been dealt with severely but he now acknowledges how true, and just, and right, God is and has been. God’s dealings with him were appropriate in light of his sins. We know that if we confess our sins God is a faithful and a just God to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

GOD IS A JUST JUDGE AND MERCIFUL JUSTIFIER

Imagine that you are a judge and it is your job to adhere to the law unflinchingly. One day a man stands in front of you as vile as they come, wicked murderer. The evidence against him is ironclad. There is no doubt that he is guilty - he openly admits his guilt. He confesses what he did and says that he is sorry. Then he asks you to forgive him. And in spite of what the law says, you grant him complete forgiveness and let him walk free.

All of us would certainly be horrified if a judge acted in such a manner. However, that is exactly what our judge has done. In spite of the clear standard of His law, and in spite of the overwhelming evidence. He sweeps it all aside and sets us free from the penalty of sin and certain death.

Paul gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, and that is how God can be both our just judge and our merciful justifier.

Pontius Pilot who had every reason to find some flaw in the character said, “I find no guilt in Him.” (John 19:6)

Note: Do not make the mistake of assuming that when it says that Jesus became sin for us that somehow he became a sinner. God treated Jesus on the cross as if He had lived m life and punished Him for every sin I have ever committed or ever will commit, to the full satisfaction of His justice.

4). He confesses that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Nebuchadnezzar came to the realization that Peter did in 1 Peter 5:6

1 Peter 5:6 ESV

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

That is always his pattern of saving grace. There is not a person who has ever come into a relationship with Christ that did not humble himself. Why?

Because our pride will not allow us to do anything less. If we fail to humble ourselves at the mercy seat of God we are only giving lip service to the king of kings and Lord of Lords. Up until this point King Nebuchadnezzar had only given lip service to Daniels God.

Notice genuine humility before God is not self-help or a life hack, but a response to divine initiative and help. How will you respond when humbling circumstances come your way? Will you humble yourself? We do not teach ourselves to be humble. There’s no five-step plan for becoming more humble in the next week, or month.

The main test comes when we are confronted, unsettled, and attacked, in the moments when our semblances of control have faded and we are taken off guard by life in a fallen world - and the question comes to us: How will you respond to the humbling circumstances of your life?

CLOSING

To paraphrase one writer, a man who thought himself a god was made a beast to learn that he was but a man. Those who will not humble themselves in the sight of the Lord will be cast down, not lifted up (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:6–7).

The insanity of this World

Our sanity is directly linked to God’s sovereignty. Legally speaking, insanity is when a person cannot distinguish reality from fantasy. In other words, a person who is insane cannot tell what is true reality and what is not true. It is not until a person recognizes that God is sovereign (supreme highest in power and authority; controlling; preeminent; indisputable; being above all others in character, importance, excellence; greatest, utmost paramount) that a person recognizes the ultimate truth.

With this knowledge, a persons mind is transformed and at peace. Without this knowledge peoples spirit is still restless and their soul is unable to distinguish the truth from a lie.

At times you will face difficult people, or difficult situations in your life. When this happens ask ourselves the question:

“How am I revealing the Glory of God?”

“How does the way I react reveal what I value the most”

“Where am I Looking for the Answers?”