Full of Faith

 

Daniel 4:37a Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven 

It took a lot to finally get through to King Nebuchadnezzar.

He was a “typical” king of those eras so many years ago who felt he was always right, had no patience for anything or anyone who got in his way, was short-fused, and temperamental.  We see all of that in the first few chapters of Daniel.  

But God had His way and His plan for bringing this pagan king around and it included allowing those Jewish sons of nobility (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah) to be taken captive.  God gave those boys courage and wisdom to stand firm in their faith in a way that had a dramatic impact on Babylon that could never have happened any other way.   

Nebuchadnezzar had the opportunity to learn God’s ways from their stand against eating his food (chapter 1).  He saw them stand out as ten times better than all the other "wise men," all the other magicians and enchanters in his kingdom. 

     The result? Those young men were put to work in the king's palace (Daniel 1:19-21).

Then Nebuchadnezzar saw God’s power over dreams and future events in chapter 2, when only Daniel was able to tell him what his dream had been and what it meant.   

     The result? King Nebuchadnezzar's response was to tell Daniel, "Truly, your God is God of gods, and Lord of kings" (Daniel 2:47).

He obviously did not “get” the message then because he turned around and built that image of himself to be worshiped in chapter 3.  

     The result? He saw God’s power on behalf of Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego, when God preserved them in the fiery furnace. This time, he declared to everyone, "There is no other god who is able to rescue in this way" (Daniel 3:29).

He finally, after that incident, appeared to get the message that their God was greater than anything he had encountered, but he still wasn’t convinced that their God was the One to worship. 

King Nebuchadnezzar even had to lose his mind for a while, becoming totally unable to live as a normal human being (Daniel 4), before he "got" it.

     The result? He became convinced of the majesty, power, and authority of Daniel's God, and declared, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just..." (Daniel 4:37).

I am encouraged for my own life and times to see that God still was willing to keep bringing events into Nebuchadnezzar's life that would bring him to full faith.   

That is why I keep praying for unsaved and unrepentant people I know, I keep praying for the leaders of governments around the world, asking God to bring people like Daniel and his three friends, and events, like dreams, the fiery furnace and extreme illness, into their lives to draw them to faith.   

The last we read of King Nebuchadnezzar is his declaration of belief: “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” (4:37).

I want to be like Daniel, Shadrach, Mishach, and Agednego when I grow up. It was their lives and their prayers and their examples of faith that made the difference for King Nebuchadnezzar.

Full of faith. Standing firm in that faith. Praying with faith. Used by God to bring others to faith.