37Now I Nebuchadnezzar
[am] one praising and extolling and glorifying to the King of the heavens
because the all of His doings [are] truth, and His ways [are] just, and ones
walking in pride, [He is] One able to bring low.
This verse is, as it were, “the conclusion of it all.” It is
the conclusion of this chapter but I would suggest it is far more. Its thoughts
go far beyond a proud, arrogant king, They reach out to embrace your life and
mine. In his dream, the watcher told him the lesson was intended, “that the
living may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of men…” (v. 17). If
you or I are among “the living” we can rest assured the point of all this was
meant for us. As it is said elsewhere
in Scripture, “Now all these things happened to them as
examples, and they were written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (I Cor. 10:11).
That said, I’ve been nursing on this verse for several days.
I suppose, as much as anything I’ve ever written, I am writing
here specifically with my grandchildren and great grandchildren in mind. To
each of you I say, I hope someday the Lord will bring my feeble thoughts before
you, that you will read them, and that you will seriously ponder what this
passage is teaching, if for no other reason than that your tired old
grandfather wrote this down for you.
The sin of pride is an insidious beast. It is sometimes easy
to see in others but almost impossible to see in yourself. “The pride of your
heart deceives you.” It is a sin that hides itself but will absolutely destroy
you and everything you ever cared about. It will ruin even your best attempts
to do good and, again, it is insidious so you won’t see it until it’s too late
and the damage is done.
Pride is the devil’s sin. It is the sin of the created thing
saying, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of
God, I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly…I will make myself like
the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13,14). It is the created thing chaffing at what they
were created to be and unhappy until they can be more. As with the devil, it is
always ultimately a war with God Himself, since He is the Creator.
Consider the following
quote from Dean Vaughn in “James
Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary”:
“Many
learned things have been said and written upon the nature and essence of pride.
Probably none of them could equal in depth of impressiveness this account of
pride speaking, with this repeated pronoun, the personal and the impressive: ‘Is
this not great Babylon, that I
have builded by the might of my
power, and for the honour of my
majesty?’ Whatever other definitions of pride may be given, certainly this is
true of it, that it is the contemplation of self, the concentration on self,
the having self on the throne of the being as the one object of attention, of
observance, of consideration, always, everywhere, and in all things. It is
often assumed that this attention given to self is of necessity the
contemplation of supposed excellence, and that it is, therefore, so far as it
is characteristic of pride, of the nature of self-complacency or
self-admiration; and yet some of the proudest of men have been at the very
antipodes of self-satisfaction. It is the very consciousness of their own
deformity—moral or physical—of their own inferiority in some prized and coveted
particular of birth, gift, or grace, which has driven them in upon themselves
in an unlovely, unloving isolation. Self-complacency is not the only form of
pride. It is doubtful whether to self-complacency does not rather belong the
very different title of vanity. A beggar may be proud, a cripple may be proud;
failure takes refuge in pride, even moral failure, the experience of perpetual
defeat in that life-battle with which no stranger intermeddles. Pride is
self-contemplation, but not necessarily self-admiration—self-absorption, but
not necessarily self-adoration.”
One of the things that Vaughan says that you should
particularly note is “the beggar may be proud…” Don’t think that, because you
aren’t a proud king (or a billionaire or movie star or professional athlete…),
because you’re no one “important,” that you don’t have a problem with pride. As
he says, “…it is the contemplation of
self, the concentration on self, the having self on the throne of the being as
the one object of attention, of observance…a beggar may be proud…” Pride
infects all of us, regardless of your
position in life.
The massive fault of this pre-occupation with self is its disregard
for God. Daniel tells Belshazzar in the next chapter, “…you did not honor the
God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways.” There it is, our
rightful place is to live our lives being all we can be, striving to do all the
good we can do, yet doing it all in worshipful recognition of our creator God.
This is precisely why Jesus said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but
he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If you can for even a minute see that this pride problem is
a battle with God Himself, you’ll see why it is true, “God resists the proud,
but gives His grace to the humble.” When it says “God resists the proud,”
please be aware the word “resists” is a military word and actually means He “marshals
His troops” against you. If you declare war on God, please realize He will
declare war on you, and the last
thing in all the world you need is to have God against you!!! In all of your life, the most sane, rational thing
you can do is accept that you are a created being and that God is your Creator,
that He runs the universe, not you.
Without any doubt, the best work on pride I ever read was
written by Richard Baxter in his book, A Christian Directory, ca. 1673,
and runs from page 192 to page 214. If you can ever get your hands on his
words, it will do you well to ponder them carefully. At the risk of running too
long, I want to record here my paraphrase of several of Baxter’s “evidences” of
pride. Consider these:
- Enjoying my “greatness” or “success” in anything, while not humbly realizing the gratitude I owe to God and others who helped me achieve it.
- Thinking what I would do, I can do by myself, with no thought of God, no prayer for help and strength.
- Being angry or bitter or impatient with our circumstances, as if to say, “If only I were God, I could do this better!”
- Being angry when someone disobeys us or questions our wisdom or suggests we are in error, all the while quite sure we are above such things.
- Even in doing good, being more interested in the honor I’ll receive than the good itself.
- Preferring to have others dependent on me. Chaffing at the times when I must depend on others or ask for help.
- Excusing and minimizing the faults of anyone who flatters me.
- After I’ve owned a position, to be loath to admit I was wrong in it.
- Being discontent with “who we are” as compared to others who seem to have done “better” or who have “more.
- Being “disappointed” in others because, in reality, we think we deserved “better” or “more” from them.
As I said earlier, pride is insidious.
Baxter gives probably fifty such examples! God deliver us all!
This is the lesson Nebuchadnezzar had
to learn. Consider again his words:
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and
glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His
ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.”
The Most High rules in the kingdoms of
men…and He rules in your life and mine. Not only does He rule but, if you’ll
welcome Him in, you’ll find He is a wonderful Father God. As Nebuchadnezzar
said, “All He does is just and right.” The passage (I Peter 5:5-7) says, “God resists
the proud but gives His grace to the humble,” but goes on to say, “Humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in
due time; casting all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” Literally, “for
it matters to Him concerning you.”
Nebuchadnezzar was never so sane as
the moment he welcomed the God of Heaven into his life. You and I will do well
to be like him!
No comments:
Post a Comment