10 The Lord Is King: Daniel 4
10
The Lord Is King
Daniel 4
“I felt about this tall,” we say, holding thumb and forefinger an inch apart. Those belittling experiences are painful to remember. We’re embarrassed to even talk about them. But there are other times we feel small in a cleansing way, when our eyes get opened to truth and we realize how wrong we’ve been. Those are good experiences, humbling us without humiliating us. A long-ago pagan king had such an experience and left us a written record of it.
GROUP DISCUSSION. What is the most humbling experience you’ve ever had? Why was it so humbling for you? What have been the long-term results?
PERSONAL REFLECTION. In your opinion, what does it take for a person to be humbled before God? In your own spiritual life, what has been necessary for that to happen?
The setting of the book of Daniel is the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had conquered Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and deported most of the Jewish population to Babylon as slaves. Daniel, a bright and devout young Jew, was one of those taken into captivity. Even though he defied Babylonian religion and worshiped God, Daniel won Nebuchadnezzar’s approval and trust. Read Daniel 4.
1. What were the steps of King Nebuchadnezzar’s coming to worship the Lord as the true God?
2. At what point(s) is Nebuchadnezzar’s experience similar to the way God has worked in your life to bring you to worship him as Lord?
3. What was Nebuchadnezzar’s initial response to his dream (vv. 4-8)?
4. What does the king’s response tell you about him?
5. According to Daniel, what was the meaning of the king’s dream (vv. 19-27)?
6. What made Daniel’s interpretation so disturbing?
7. What did Nebuchadnezzar need to learn about himself?
about God?
8. Why would it be especially easy for someone in Nebuchadnezzar’s position to become proud?
9. In what area(s) might you be tempted to be proud, and why?
10. After receiving a vision in the form of a dream, and after hearing Daniel’s interpretation and sound advice, why do you think Nebuchadnezzar failed to repent (vv. 28-30)?
11. What was the extent to which God humbled this proud pagan king (vv. 31-33)?
12. What evidence is there that Nebuchadnezzar learned the lesson God wanted to teach him?
13. In what ways does Nebuchadnezzar’s experience serve as both a warning and an encouragement to you?
As you pray, use King Nebuchadnezzar’s words in verses 3, 34-35 and 37 as your inspiration.
Now or Later
Compare this event with the account of Daniel’s first dream interpretation (Daniel 2) and the account of King Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the rescue of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3). Notice how Nebuchadnezzar kept acknowledging God and then turning back to his own pride and power. Consider how we are tempted to fall into the same pattern.