Daniel 2:46,47 – “Heart Work”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴⁶Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel and he said an offering and incense to pour out to him. ⁴⁷Answering the king to Daniel and saying, “From truth your (pl.) God He [is] the God of gods and a lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries as you (sing.) were able to reveal this mystery.”

As usual, barrels of ink have been spilt debating this matter of Nebuchadnezzar “worshipping” Daniel and whether or not Daniel allowed it, etc., etc. etc. I guess I would reply to it all two observations: First, it isn’t surprising that the king would do this. To us, it is surprising. To us, there is God and there is man. To us, you worship God, not people. But in Nebuchadnezzar’s world, it was very different. Their “gods” were in a sense nothing but super-endowed people, with the same lusts and passions as mortal people. Also, the ancient peoples often attributed divinity to their kings and worshiped them (as when later, Daniel was forbidden to pray to anyone but the king). We need to realize that, in Nebuchadnezzar’s world, there was no real and clear distinction between gods and people, and so, when a person did something seemingly god-like, it was okay to actually worship them. His response may “surprise” us but we need to realize he lived in a very different world.

The second thing I want to say is that, in the real world, especially at work, sometimes things happen in such a swirl, you may or may not even get a chance to respond to or change something. In other words, here Daniel is, he reveals the dream and, immediately upon finishing, the greatest king on earth is suddenly on the floor worshiping Daniel and giving orders that His attendants make offerings to him. Daniel may or may not even have time to object as Paul and Silas did in Acts 14:15 when the people of Lystra tried to worship them, and they responded, “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you?” Daniel is not in charge, the king is. Even if Daniel can object, he would have to do it very meekly, as, in doing so, he would be defying the king’s orders. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. But, my point is that, in the real world, we often don’t get the chance to control what other people do or don’t do. Sometimes we have to just let them do what they want, right or wrong, while we simply know better and move on with life. In our lives, such things can go one way or the other, and Daniel is no different.

Probably more important anyway is to consider this rather amazing confession coming from an idol-worshipping king: “From truth your (pl.) God He [is] the God of gods and a lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries as you (sing.) were able to reveal this mystery.” To simply read these words, we might conclude that Nebuchadnezzar was here converted to worship of the God of Israel. In fact, in the next chapter he builds a huge idol and demands its worship and in the next has to be turned into a cow before he’ll acknowledge “the Most High rules.” The words before us represent no “conversion” at all. But neither are they frivolous. This Babylonian king has, probably for the first time, come face to face with the living God.

I am trying to remember every day that this is God’s world, that in His world today He is doing a amazing things, that I am only here because He will allow me to be a part of His mighty work. Daniel is in Babylon specifically because the Lord is busy doing amazing things. The Lord wants to draw the hearts of these Babylonian people to Himself, and in particular He would draw this tyrannical, raging, murderous king. The Lord loves Nebuchadnezzar and would have him be His son. But someone once observed it’s almost always true that whatever the Lord does, He does slowly -- and that is particularly true when it comes to His wooing of people’s hearts. I would suggest that, what the Lord is doing here, is, in a sense, introducing Himself to Nebuchadnezzar. After today, there is no question Nebuchadnezzar has “met” the Lord. But much, much, much heart work is still necessary before he will come to that place in his heart of hearts when he not only knows the Lord is there and knows He is powerful, but wants Him to rule in his heart.

In a sense, Nebuchadnezzar today has only graduated to the faith of demons. The demons have met the Lord. There is no doubt they know He is there. And they know He is powerful. But they don’t want Him to rule over them. They still want to do it their way. As James said, “You believe that God is One? You do well. But the demons also believe and tremble!”

What is my point? Only that, as we read this text, what we are seeing is part of the process the Lord uses to draw people to Himself. It is short-sighted to think this event is all it would take to bring about the complete conversion of this idol-worshipping king. It rarely ever happens that fast. On the other hand, we shouldn’t be too surprised or disappointed that in the very next chapter he’s arrogantly building his golden statue and throwing three of the Lord’s servants into a fiery furnace. He is not converted. Like so many of us, there will be a long period between this day when Nebuchadnezzar “meets” the Lord and when His heart finally bows. During that period, we all, just like him, commit grievous sins. We choose laughably stupid paths. We spit in His face and do seemingly everything we can to frustrate His grace. Those of us who love Him today know that is what happened in our lives. We know His calling was a long process. During that time, He showed up in many, many places, sometimes very small and unnoticeable to anyone around us – but we knew it was Him. We just didn’t want to let Him in – yet.

We have to accept in our own hearts that this is the normal path for anyone to come to Him. We all wish we could just pray and see people fall at His feet. But they don’t. It just doesn’t work that way. But we could take from Daniel today this encouragement, that even while people fight and rebel and sin (sometimes grievously – like we did), the Lord just goes on quietly working in their heart. Paul tells us He “determined the times of their lives and the exact places where they should live … that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him …” (Acts 17:26,27). In the meantime and while those people we pray for are fighting against Him, “the servant of the Lord must be kind to everyone … those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance …” (II Tim 2:24,25).

Our job, like Daniel is to be “present and accounted for” every day. This is God’s world and I’m here to be a part of whatever it is He’s up to. And my marching orders? “Love God and love people.” Everywhere I go, everything I do, I want to be humbly, patiently aware that God is doing great things in people’s hearts. I don’t have to understand it. I don’t even have to see it or know it’s happening. But I can, like Daniel, be assured He is at work.

I probably won’t be interpreting any dreams today or find myself in the palace of any great king, but I want to be “present and accounted for” in my world while the Lord is doing His slow quiet work.