Daniel

Daniel 4:3 “How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.”

These are the words of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, after he tried burning the Hebrews alive. Boy, was he surprised. He had three men put in the burning fiery furnace and when he looked in the furnace to see how the burning was going he saw four. None of them were hurt. Nebuchadnezzar learned a lesson that day that a whole world needs to learn today. He learned that being a king didn’t make you God. He learned that God is real and is in control of the world.

Like Nebuchadnezzar, many of us think that this is the time. This is the place. We are the most important people and everything revolves around what we say and so. In doing so, we dismiss God from the world scene. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, we may not get to see the power of God before it’s too late. Mankind thinks they are in control of the world, (the fiery burning furnace) but they, like the king don’t know about the fourth man.

We need a good dose of James 4:13, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’…” Like those in Babel we think we can build our tower and conquer the heavens. Our only hope is a return to God.

Task for Today: Read this conclusion of Nebuchadnezzar over a few times. Make it your mantra for today. It will help keep things in perspective. You may use the fiery burning furnace but you don’t control it. This is not your world, right? You own nothing, right? But you can claim a relationship with God who does own the world. Do that today.