ON THE VANGUARD

THE KINGDOM 'I' HAVE BUILT
"[King Nebuchadnezzar] said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?'"
Daniel 4:30

I think I may have it all figured out, the root of all sin that is. I think it all starts with pride. If you think about it, Eve was tricked into eating the apple because the serpent made her feel unworthy. Who was she to not be as wise and able as God? Surly if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good enough for God it should be good enough for her. So pride crept in and she bit and shared. But this is not the only sin based on pride. If you think about it, every sin we do is somehow related to pride. I tell a lie because I don't want to get in trouble. I become too proud to take the blame for my actions and receive my just punishment. What about gossip? Although what I’m saying may indeed be true, the fact remains that gossip is a sin. Yet I find myself using this method to elevate myself, which again sounds like pride to me. So then, if I know about pride and know it is a root of all sin, why do I find myself still coming face to face with it?
Let me explain what I am trying to say a little better. Yesterday I was finishing up the final chapters of Joyce Meyer's book, The Battlefield of the Mind. As I was reading, she began to mention an attitude and mindset that people have where, either voiced or not, they begin to see themselves better than others. As she went on explaining this I found my mind going down a deer path. I began to think of two men specifically that I know well. Sadly enough, God showed me that more than half of what I say about these two is negative. I speak ill and gossip behind their backs about their jobs, their relationships with God, their abilities, their...well the list keeps going. And then God reminded me of King Nebuchadnezzar and the events that changed his life.
In Daniel 4:19-27, the king shares with Daniel a dream that terrified him. Through Daniel's interpretation of the dream, we read that God had issued a decree against Nebuchadnezzar that he would live as a wild animal for seven years. His kingdom would indeed be restored, but not until he acknowledged that Heaven rules. Then Daniel gave a word of wisdom by stating to the king to repent now. We read no account of his repentance, but rather in verse 29 see that one year later, as the king was taking in the sights of his kingdom, pride caught up with him. "[King Nebuchadnezzar] said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?'" (Dan 4:30). It was all about the I's and my's. But as God is true, so the dream also came true, and with the words fresh off his lips, the king lived as a wild animal (Dan 4:28-34). Not until Nebuchadnezzar looked toward God, seven years later as foretold, did he come back to his right mind.
Commentator Matthew Henry gives some interesting thought to this passage by stating that "pride and self-conceit are sins that beset great men. They are apt to take that glory to themselves which is due to God only. While the proud word was in the king's mouth, the powerful word came from God. His understanding and his memory were gone, and all the powers of the rational soul were broken. How careful we ought to be, not to do anything which may provoke God to put us out of our senses! God resists the proud."
The point I want to make in this devotional today is not that of fear that you may turn into a wild beast, but rather that we would take a spiritual inventory of ourselves and see if we have any pride in us. If so, then would it not be wise to take the warning Daniel gave to the king and repent before God? This may be the hardest part, and I know it is not one I am truly looking forward to. But in addition to coming before God for forgiveness of my pride, I know that God has already told me that I need to seek forgiveness from these men also. Perhaps for me, this reminder of Nebuchadnezzar's fate is my warning, and perhaps me sharing the story again with you is yours. Whatever it may be, the warning still should be heeded. Let us seek forgiveness for our pride so that we do not fall into a fate worse off than that of King Nebuchadnezzar.