Daily Discovery 4th May 2020 Devotional – Humbling The Proud
TODAY’S TOPIC: HUMBLING THE PROUD
Opening Prayer: Most High God and Father, in everything I do, may I decrease, so You may increase (John 3:30).
Read Daniel 4:19–37 – Daniel Interprets the Dream
19 Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.”
Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries! 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth,
21 with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds—
22 Your Majesty, you are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth.
Today’s Daily Discovery 4th May 2020 Devotional
23 “Your Majesty saw a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live with the wild animals, until seven times pass by for him.’
24 “This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king:
25 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.
26 The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules.
27 Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”
The Dream Is Fulfilled
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.
29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
30 he 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?” Daily Discovery 4th May 2020 Devotional
31 Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you.
32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
TODAY DAILY DISCOVERY DEVOTIONAL MAY 4, 2020
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.
37 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect: Daily Discovery 4th May 2020 Devotional
Have you ever been humbled in a humiliating kind of way?
Did you know that what happened to Nebuchadnezzar has a name? “Boanthropy” is the condition in which the sufferer believes themself to be a cow or an ox, and eats grass. For the king of Babylon, it was quite the punishment—yet fitting for a king whose rage was terrifying, who asked the impossible and who built an enormous statue of gold. Before you judge him, though, draw a line with “proud” at one end and “humble” at the other. Where do you land?
We cannot know what actually happened, so the TV show The Crown invents an argument between Queen Elizabeth II and Philip on the eve of her coronation in 1953: she refuses to make an exception for him, even though he is her husband, and insists that he kneel before her during the ceremony. She, of course, has not knelt in homage to anyone since her father died in 1952. Yet even earthly queens must kneel before the King of heaven—and so must we. We must pay more than lip service to God’s lordship over us, and learn to be humble before the Most High God, lest he humble us (37).
Apply: Is there an area of your life in which you have not “bowed” to Christ as Lord? Lay it down before him today.
Closing prayer: “Now I… praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just” (37).
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