Like Joseph living as a slave in Egypt, Daniel was also exiled to a foreign land 800-900 miles away. Like the young Jewish girl captured by Naaman during the war with Syria, Daniel was a captive of war with Babylonia. Once in Babylon, Daniel was forced to go to school to learn the language and the culture of the Babylonians.
Here was a godly young man being forced to learn ungodly things for those three years. Three of Daniel’s friends were also captured in Jerusalem and taken to Babylon, where they joined Daniel in the pagan school system. Many parents are concerned about sending their children to public schools today for this reason.
Because God had given Daniel the ability to interpret dreams, he impressed King Nebuchadnezzar, which made some of the other officials jealous. Jesus would tell His disciples some six centuries later, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) Neither Joseph, the servant girl, nor Daniel and his friends were bitter or belligerent. They saw their captors as men who needed to know God.
When the king sought Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, God’s man was pained by what he understood. He said, “‘My lord if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!’” (Daniel 4:19) Daniel interpreted the dream to mean that because of the king’s pride, God would make him wander around in the open fields like an animal until he would “acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes.” (Daniel 4:25) Nebuchadnezzar was an egotistical and arrogant man, as seen in his fury with three defiant Jews in Daniel, chapter three. Because they disobeyed him, he intended to burn them alive. However, God had other plans.
A year after the dream, while Nebuchadnezzar was overlooking the city of Babylon, impressed with himself, God fulfilled the dream and made the king act like a wild animal. When his mind was restored, he gave this testimony: “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. 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.” (Daniel 4:36-37)
It would have been less traumatic if the king had taken Daniel’s advice at the time he interpreted the dream. “Therefore, O king, 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.” (Daniel 4:27) That was Daniel’s loving advice: repent and change your ways.
That is an important part of the gospel, a call for repentance, an acknowledgment and renunciation of our sin, the stubbornness that wants to be in charge of our life and take all the credit for the things with which God has helped us. It was Peter who knew the pains of being humbled for his pride. He wrote, “Young men, in the same way, be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up [exalt you] in due time.” (1 Peter 5:5–6)
The prodigal son illustrates the stubbornness and foolhardiness of each of us. Like the son, we don’t realize how much our (heavenly) Father loves us. Basically, sin is thinking we can run our lives better than God. Until each of us experiences our “pig pen” of life, we avoid God. It wasn’t until the young man “came to his senses” that he was ready to return home and confess his pride to his father. In like manner, each person must come to Jesus with a humble and genuinely repentant heart.
It’s not to say that everyone must find themselves in a pig pen created by financial failures or hits rock bottom before accepting Christ. It does highlight, though, that everyone must come to Jesus with an attitude of repentance and humility. If you have not yet accepted Christ as having received punishment for your sin, take Daniel’s advice: Renounce your sins and ask His forgiveness. Open your life to Jesus. Don’t resist Him and make God humble you.
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