Thursday, April 17, 2008

Kings and Humility

Daniel and the cruel King
In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar tells all his magicians and wise men in Babylon that he will tear them limb from limb if they do not tell him the meaning of a troubling dream that he has had. In order to keep them from attempting to pull the wool over his eyes by agreeing privately on some fictional interpretation of that dream and then telling it to him in order to save their own lives, the king adds the proviso that they must first tell him the dream that he wants interpreted.

Nebuchadnezzar is not a man who warms your heart by his gentleness and compassion. He does not tolerate fools easily. I want to suggest to you that cruelty, in general, is tied to the desparate need of self-exaltation. The king's threats flow from the king's fears. He feels out of control, so he wields power cruelly.

Just think about this for a moment: If Nebuchadnezzar was so great, wise, and powerful, why does he need to ask for outside help to interpret his dream? Why does he spend sleepless nights trying to resolve the mystery of this dream? From where does all this fear come?

Nebuchadnezzar is simply wrestling with his humanity. He feels vulnerable. He lacks insight. Therefore, he ends up both miserable and mean. Cruelty flows from desperation and weakness.

The Difference is Daniel's God

Here is the short version of what happens next: God gives Daniel both the dream and the interpretation. The magicians and wise men don't die. Daniel gets a big promotion.

What is striking about Daniel in this scene and provides such a sharp contrast to Nebuchadnezzar is that Daniel knows that God has everything that Nebuchadnezzar lacks - wisdom, power, and insight. And even more than that - compassion! When Daniel is about to be rounded up and executed with the rest, he asks the King's commander why this is happening. When told of the king's decree, he asks for time to seek God and he gathers his three friends to ask God for something. What does he ask for? Daniel 2:18 reads "so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven..." He couldn't expect that from Nebuchadnezzar!

The thing that is so striking about our God as opposed to almost all other gods and all other human kings of biblical times - is that our God is not a God who uses threats to gain things that He somehow lacks. Our God has all power and authority and therefore, our God can and does act compassionately toward those who come to Him by faith. This foolishness of exalting ourselves and trying to force our wills brutally on others is one thing that most certainly offends God. God cannot tolerate men being cruel to other men under the guise of pretending that they are powerful and in control. Such pride is so hypocritical. It is so anti-God. If you find yourself starting to be cruel because you feel out of control, acknowledge humbly that you don't have control and ask for help, instead of rage, rage, raging against what you think is the dying light.

God is our Hope.

When we fear the future and feel helpless, what we are showing is that we do not possess certain hope. When the future for us is certain and good, then no one or no circumstance is a threat to us, and we need not whisper a threat or a complaint or a cruel word, for nothing can shake our lives. For Daniel, the future was in the hands of His God -the God who never trembled over any uncertainty because there is no uncertainty; the God who worked all things according to the counsel of His will. Daniel expected that such a true God could extend compassion towards him because this God, the God of heaven, was not struggling, insecure or miserable. Daniel simply had to ask.

Nebuchadnezzar's lesson:
The peace for the kingdom and the peace for Nebuchadnezzar would only come when the king bowed and recognized that he was merely a man who needed to look to the God in whom alone all kingdoms stood and all kingdoms fell. The predominant principle that echoes throughout the book of Daniel is that God alone is the ruler of all men, including kings and nations. No man is to exalt himself. Just read Daniel 3 and 4 and see what happens when Nebuchadnezzar does exalt himself. Nebuchadnezzar's conclusion after some very humbly experiences sums it up well: "For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heave and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?" It is too bad it takes so long for us to realize this. God rules over all. God can be trusted.

Daniel's Peace
What strikes me in the second chapter of Daniel is how Daniel is very conscious of the truth that God alone rules over all and in that truth Daniel rests. Daniel doesn't struggle to be in control. Daniel doesn't become more determined to be self-sufficient and neither does he attempt to give credit to himself. Listen to how he explains the dream to the King. Daniel is extremely conscientious to point all credit to God. In Daniel 2:30, before he tells the dream, Daniel gives this precursor: "But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man." Daniel is not the interpreter because he is more wise than other people and somehow figured it out. God was being gracious to the king by giving Daniel the message as an act of divine revelation rather than human deduction. Daniel says that he is simply giving the message as God's act of compassion so "that you may understand the thoughts of your mind."

How much cruelty would be replaced by compassion amongst men, when we realize that only those who arrogantly crave control end up being cruel? Those who give it up, and trust the One who rules all things well, can afford to be compassionate.