093. The Thanksgiving Of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Thanksgiving Of Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel’s Thanksgiving.—Daniel 4:29-37.

One short year has rolled away, and with its hurried flight had borne the convictions of the monarch’s heart. We behold him as he paces his lofty terrace overlooking the splendid city, and we hear from Holy Writ his musings as he contemplates the splendor and magnificence around him: “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?”—these palaces with all their beauty, are they not mine? How great is my power! and am I not a king? In the few fleeting months that have passed he has forgotten the God of Shadrach, Meshaeh, and Abednego, “the Lord of lords and King of kings.” Self is exalted, self is the object of his homage.

Daniel has been to him a faithful friend, but the wise counsels of “the prophet of God” have been disregarded by the king. God had listened to Daniel’s prayers, had met him at the mercy-seat, and in his own way would yet humble the proud heart of Nebuchadnezzar. Deep and bitter were his trials, but they brought him to his God. They gave him a knowledge that opened his eyes to see his own strength weakness; his pride was humbled, and a spirit of deep humility pervades his thanksgiving.