365 Reflections

Daniel chapter 4 is a salvation testimony from an unlikely vessel.  Daniel 4:1–3 (ESV) King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! 2 It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. 3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. The conversion of Nebuchadnezzar is not something you'd expect to happen at all in scripture. He may top the list of people you'd never expect to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he does. He's brought low and sent into the wild by the hand of God. In the end, he found out who he wasn't (God) and who he was accountable to (also God).  It started with pride.  Daniel 4:4 (ESV) I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. He has a dream again, this time he tells the magicians and enchanters ...

How do you stand for God when everyone else is falling for lies? That is the most important question we can ask of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. The only three people in the world who stood for God at a time of global confusion. The world ebbs and flows into this sort of state, where at times people are utterly fooled into following nonsense. I consider the COVID-19 lockdown period one such time. I'm sorry if that offends, but it's truer now than ever. We were lied to, and few stood up for the truth because the consequences for doing so were somewhat severe.  It doesn't get more severe than burning to death.  Daniel 3:8–12 (ESV) Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden i...

Resisting pride has to be the most challenging spiritual discipline. I should say humility is the most elusive virtue. On the heels of learning his kingdom would one day end and be surpassed by 3 successive kingdoms after his, Nebuchadnezzar decides to take matters into his own hands. Daniel 3:1–2 (ESV) King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. What do we see here? We see an image made fully of gold, whereas the image of his dream only had a head of gold (representing Babylon). We see his desire for world unity under his reign through a global invitation to the image's dedication.  Daniel 3:3–5 (ESV) ...

The great Bible names are famous for not taking credit. To make that argument, consider first those who sought to make a name for themselves: Samson fought his own battles instead of the Lord's.  Saul won a battle and built himself a monument in his own name.  Simon the magician offered money for the Holy Spirit's power to be important.  The super apostles in Paul's letters used the church for glorification.  And of course, the Babylonian city in Revelation is cast down in her pride.  Daniel is among those men who did great exploits and refused to take credit. When Nebuchadnezzar's dream needed interpreting, Daniel gave all the credit to God.  Daniel 2:26–28 (ESV) The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 b...

Mighty kings in the Bible who thought they were God were troubled by one of the most impotent forces on earth - dreams. Consider that Pharaoh's troubling dream spooked him enough to search out and find Joseph, who could interpret them successfully. Now, in Daniel 2, we have a repetition of that theme in scripture.  Daniel 2:1 (ESV) In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Not only does the king experience troubling dreams, but he cannot sleep. One could harken back to Esther 6 when Xerxes suffered the same affliction and called for the chronicles of his reign to be read to him. The story turned on that simple moment, and here in Daniel, dreams and insomnia do their work to open doors of opportunity for God's chosen ones living in exile.  Nebuchadnezzar calls for the magicians and enchanters to come and solve the problem, but UNLIKE Pharaoh, there will be no telling of the dream. Nebuchadnezz...

It’s a world clamoring for attention. Everyone wants to be seen, followed, admired, liked, loved, connected, networked and heard. To me, it’s getting exhausting. The quest for attention dilutes our competency around what actually IS worth our attention. Click bait ropes us in with false/misleading headlines. I’ve seen something emerge called engagement bait where a post is obviously misconstrued by the author simply to illicit comments from readers. In other words, the poster is asking for people to correct an obvious mistake they purposefully made simply to get attention from others.  Maybe it’s a lack of cohesion in family and community. Our neighborhoods are now HOA drama-fests. Our families are often fractured by politics and opinions. Our churches have dwindled and social clubs like the American Legion and K of C are a thing of the past.  But there’s a far deeper issue. We seem to be a culture of dead fish all swimming down stream and on our way to the dead end, we’re gra...

Daniel begins and it's one of my favorite books in the Bible. Daniel is a book about conviction and clarity regarding one's place in God's sovereign control of history. We find that truth in the first two verses of the English version of this book: Daniel 1:1–2 (ESV) In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. The first verse suggests that Nebuchadnezzar was in charge. He came to Jerusalem and besieged it. But the second verse provides interesting clarity. The Lord gave the king of Jerusalem into his hand.  God rules over history. Even here where the beloved nation suffers the reproach of being conquered in the ancient world, God is in charge.  Wow.  Now we love the sovere...