Monday, October 12, 2009

Good Morning! 2009.10.12 - Nebuhadnezzar is About to Pass off the Scene

 

Right-Click to copy  (or Control-click on a Mac)Good Morning!

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of

 

heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and

 

those that walk in pride he is able to abase (Dan 4:37).

 

Nebuchadnezzar is about to pass off the scene in Daniel. I'm going to miss him. He was an exceedingly tough warrior who knew how to subdue nations. Holding them in line when they rebelled against him was about as difficult as whipping them in the beginning. Of course, his real success was from the hand of the living God, as he says in the verse above.

As he passes off the scene, he wants the world to know that he is a changed man. He has stopped talking about himself and his mighty deeds. Someone has said that a man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. His testimony seems to ring true and not mere lip service. People who find it easy to praise the God of Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ have a reason for that.

It's easier to talk about ourselves and look at ourselves in the mirror than it is to talk about Him and to look up to Him. Whose music do you love, deep down? What kind of magazines and reading material draws you the most? Today it's what kind of videos are your favorites because reading is going out of style.

He says that God's works are truth and his ways are of true judgment. The world today has no appetite for the King of heaven or for companions who extol the King of heaven. It is true that "everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't goin' there." But it's also true that praise to the Lord is not strange to one who knows Him.

Is it strange that so long ago a mighty king would rush to talk about God's ability to bring down a man of pride?  When a man (or woman or boy or girl) knows the King of heaven he will not find it distasteful or strange to join in with the saints of the ages in saying: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches,and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Rev 5:12).

We don't need the burden of carrying around the thought that we're the biggest thing we know. What an awful price we pay when we think that way. God will ultimately have His way in the life of every person who has ever lived on the earth. He says emphatically…twice: I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  (Isa 45:23).

 

He repeats the same message for New Testament readers: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Rom 14:11).

 

The message remains for today: if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: (Heb 3:7-8).

 

The same God who hates sin is also the God who is eager to forgive sin. But it has to be on His terms. We cannot manage God.

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (Joh 3:16-17).

 

Some day it will be over, just like Nebuchadnezzar came to his last day. In a hundred years no one will know you ever took a step on the earth, except…the Lord. Where will you spend eternity?

 

Memory Verse: The master verses on prayer. Write on a 3x5 card or napkin and put in your pocket.

 

1Jn 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him (1Jn 5:14-15).

 

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