“Therefore, O King, be pleased to accept my advice:  renounce your sins by doing what is right…” (v27)

   God, it seems, prefers to use words.  “He prefers to plant a gentle seed in our hearts to create its own free response, rather than taking us in his hands for rougher treatment.”  (Ronald S. Wallace – The Message of Daniel p74) 

  That was His approach with this powerful King.  Nebuchadnezzar had a heart for spiritual matters, but an ego too big to submit to truth.  God had tormented him with a dream, showed him His Mighty mysterious power in the flames of the white-hot furnace, and the king would not take it to heart. The soil of his soul was not yet fertile enough for the seed of God’s truth.  So, God brings another dream.  At the height of Nebuchadnezzar’s power, God is going to humble him.  

  But, first our gracious, Sovereign Father will give this stubborn man one more chance to repent.  So, in walks Daniel with God’s message and God’s warning.  “Please, oh King, give up your pride and your harsh treatment of others, and don’t attempt to stand another day on the achievements of your own hands!  Trust God…for He is the One who is truly in charge, and do it quick before He removes you from ‘your kingdom’.“ But, with some people God has to go to “plan B” – The potter’s approach:  working from the outside in… and He did.

Father, let me hear your truth just once and be changed.  Please, take away any pride that would allow me to think that I have the power to achieve anything apart from You.  And Lord, never let me stop short of telling the whole truth to those You put before me for guidance…even if, like Daniel, the news brings me “great perplexity” or grief.  (v19)  In Christ’s Name. Amen.