On Wanting More

In the first four chapters of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has so many amazing opportunities to acknowledge Jehovah as the one, true God – of the world and of Nebuchadnezzar himself – and he seems to take them all. He reminds me of the rocky ground Jesus talked about; who “receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” (Luke 8:13). Nebuchadnezzar’s one of those people who likes to do things in a big way; he likes overreacting. I can understand that. Of course, I think he’s a little too gleeful about thinking up ways to execute people. If he’d been born now, I think he’d have directed B movies or written trash novels.

It amazes me that God is concerned with and actively reaches out to Nebuchadnezzar. He refers to him elsewhere as a tool – God uses Nebuchadnezzar as a weapon with which to inflict punishment on the Israelites (and others). But the book of Daniel shows that God is also interested in Nebuchadnezzar as a person. He’s interested, that is, not only in the good that Nebuchadnezzar (that name is getting seriously old) can do as the leader of a powerful empire, but also as a person with whom God wants to have a relationship. That blows me away. Not because it’s news, but because … God is so good.

Daniel’s a stud, of course. So are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (And ha-ha about the vegetarian thing.)