Are you a "self-made" man or woman?

Daniel 4

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:5b-6

“I hate pride and arrogance.” Proverbs 8:13b

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

In what do you take pride? In your strength or wisdom or wealth? In the things you have accomplished in your life? We really don’t have any basis for pride, because, apart from God, we can’t do a single thing. However, it is always appropriate to thank and praise God for all He has given us and everything He has done through us. But we should always remember we owe it all to Him. King Nebuchadnezzar forgot this.

The king had a dream, and he called Daniel to interpret it for him. In his dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw an enormous tree with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit. The animals found shelter under it, and all the birds lived in its branches. The tree provided food for all the creatures. Then a messenger from heaven came down and commanded that the tree be cut down, the branches trimmed, the leaves stripped, and the fruit scattered. But the stump and the roots were to be bound with iron and bronze and remain in the ground.

A further part of the king’s dream was this prophecy in Daniel 4:16, “Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.”

Daniel was very reluctant to interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, but he did. He said the tree represented the king, who had become great and strong with a far reaching kingdom. But God had decreed that the king would be driven away from people and live with wild animals. The stump and roots signified the the kingdom would be restored to the king when he acknowledged that God is sovereign. Daniel warned Nebuchadnezzar to renounce his sins and perhaps escape the fate described in the dream.

A year later Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his palace in Babylon, and he said, “Is this not the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty powers and for the glory of my majesty?” Just as he finished bragging, he was driven outdoors, and all the prophecies in his dream came true. He ate grass like cattle. His hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. But after the allotted time, he was restored to his kingdom. He had learned his lesson because he said, “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 4:37

Father, if I am walking with pride in myself and my accomplishments, let me learn from Nebuchadnezzar. Apart from You, I can do nothing. May gratitude replace pride. Amen.