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Daniel
3:28
Then Nebuchadnezzar said,
"Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his
servants! They trusted in him and defied the
king's command and were willing to give up their
lives rather than serve or worship any god
except their own God.
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March 22
A Villain Turns to God
Nebuchadnezzar is one of my favorite characters
in all of the Bible. He was not only the king
of a great empire, God tells him that he is the
most powerful man in the world both currently
and ever to come. This doesn't mean that he was
the best man however. God needs to humble him
and prove that as powerful of a man as he is on
earth, the Lord of all the earth is infinitely
more powerful.
Previously Nebuchadnezzar implied that no
god could rescue someone from his hand. Of
course the Lord shows his power and humbles
Nebuchadnezzar. This passages shows his
repentance as he recognizes the power of the
true God.
Although Nebuchadnezzar's transformation seems
incredible, it is really just the start of his
journey. Just like many Christians, there is
still plenty of work to do. He will still mess
up many more times. He will have other
proclamations that sound similar to this one
until he is ultimately humbled and trusts
completely in God. But this is the start of his
journey.
Some Christians can point to the exact date and
location when they were saved. Their
transformation was dramatic and complete.
Others can't point to a day but were gradually
exposed to the gospel and one day they woke up
and realized that they got it. Just because
there wasn't a dramatic transformation or a
person falls back from where they started
doesn't discount their salvation. Our journey
isn't as important as our final destination. |
