We saw in the previous post that King Nebuchadnezzar had a pride issue. He thought more highly of himself than he should have. He also lived his life on his own terms, not God’s.

Those are the two faces of pride. Two sides of the same coin. Thinking more highly of myself than I should. And refusing to submit to God’s authority in my life.

Pride is a very dangerous condition. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar is about to find that out. The hard way.

By the way, there are two ways to gain wisdom. One is from your mistakes. The other is from other people’s mistakes. The latter is much better.

Daniel 4 finds the king at home in his palace, contented and prosperous. Things are good. Really good.

Something is wrong though. He just doesn’t know it. Actually, he does know it–he’s just forgotten it. At the end of Daniel 3, the king had three young Jews thrown into a furnace because they wouldn’t worship an idol he’d made. The men didn’t die though. God saved them. And the king got to see it with his own eyes. He saw the one true God rescue these men from the fire.

But he forgot it. He forgot that God was the true King. He forgot God is the one who gives authority and takes it away. He forgot that he was not the sovereign ruler, God is.

I forget, too. Or is it that I hope God will forget? I “forget” the sin God brings to my attention. I “forget” the changes He wants me to make.

Forgetting, like pride, is a dangerous condition.

So the king has a terrible dream. Read the chapter to get all the detail, but the bottom line is this: due to his pride, the king is not only going to lose his royal position, he’s going to become like the cattle. For seven years, he’s going to live in the fields, eat grass and begin to look like the cattle he’ll be living with.

After Daniel interprets the dream for the king, he concludes with:

“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.”

The king has a chance to avert what’s coming. He can turn from his sinful pride, submit to God and show kindness to those he’s now oppressing. He has a chance.

A year goes by and the king has blown his chance.

He is walking around on the roof of his palace, admiring all that he’s accomplished. That’s when God has had enough. What Daniel had said would happen now comes to pass. And for the next seven years, the king lives in the fields with the rest of the cattle. Just as Daniel said it would happen.

Finally, after seven years, the king says, “I…raised my eyes toward heaven and my sanity was restored.”

After seven long years of living like an ox, the king gives up. He surrenders control to the true King. He acknowledges that God is the one with all the power. God is the one who does as He pleases. The king realizes that God is able to humble those who walk in pride.

The king also discovers the grace of God when his kingdom and authority are restored to him and he “became even greater than before.”

Most likely, you and I won’t be made to live like an ox, but God has other ways to humble us when we walk in pride, so it’s much better to learn the easy way (from the king’s mistakes) than the hard way (by learning from our own mistakes). Here are a few life lessons we can take away:

1. God gives authority, success and wealth. They don’t come from our intelligence and hard work. All the credit goes to God. Claiming the credit for ourselves is evidence of pride.

2. We forget, but God doesn’t. If God has put something on your heart to do or change, then just do it. Just because a year or more goes by, it doesn’t mean God has forgotten what He said. Continuing to do what we want is evidence of pride.

3. God is faithful to forgive us and give us more grace when we turn away from our pride and submit to Him. It doesn’t mean we don’t experience the consequences of our sin. King Nebuchadnezzar lost seven years of his life while he grazed in the fields like an animal, but once he submitted himself to God and thought rightly about himself–God blessed him.

Do you find a little of King Nebuchadnezzar in yourself? Have you tended to look at your accomplishments, your wealth, your abilities as coming from you? Have you forgotten (maybe “ignored” is a better word) something God has told you to do?

Submit to God today. Don’t wait. Don’t lose seven years or even seven days. God is ready to give you more grace right now.