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.

Just Spread It Out

 

2 Kings 19:14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it.  Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

There may not be any need of prayer in heaven when we get there but that certainly does not mean we do not need it while here on earth.

When I read this story of Hezekiah’s response to the bad news that the enemy army was planning to invade his country, I am reminded of the benefit of leaving my circumstances in God’s hands.   

The Assyrian army was known for its strength and brutality and Hezekiah knew he was no match to them. Without God’s intervention there was no hope for Israel.   

So Hezekiah turned to God.  I love the picture of Hezekiah spreading the letter out before the Lord.  It was not as though God did not know what the letter said.  The act of spreading that letter out in God’s presence was an act of surrender of the situation to God.   

When I spell out my issue to God in prayer, it is my way of surrendering it to God.  In that act, I am saying, “Lord, this is the situation.  I am helpless in it.  I don’t know what to do or say, but You can take care of it.”  

 In Hezekiah’s situation, God sent words of encouragement through a prophet, and then took care of the invading army without Hezekiah’s army having to do anything. 

God will take care of my situation if I trust Him. Just spread out the situation before God and trust.

 

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No Prayer in Heaven

                                        

Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

 I have always thought of this verse in terms of prayer during my life here on earth.  In fact, that was the context in which I first learned this verse in Sunday school.  Of course, many other verses in the Bible tell us that is indeed true that God hears our prayers and answers them, sometimes almost before we finish praying.   

As I read this verse in its context in this chapter, however, I realized that there is another powerfully encouraging and exciting meaning to this verse as well.   

This passage is telling us about the future in heaven, in the new heaven and new earth that God has said He is going to create for those who follow Him.  God tells us through Isaiah that in the newly created heaven and earth "no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress" (v.19). In the new heaven and the new earth God's "chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (v.22).  "The wolf and the lamb shall graze together ... they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain" (v.25). 

Right in the middle of that context, this verse comes up: "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear."  I will be “right there” in heaven with God.  No prayer will be necessary because I will be having constant, direct interaction with Him.  I guess you could say there will be no prayer in heaven!