I had dinner with some interesting people the other day.  There were, let’s see, three kings, an angel, and a prophet of God, all munching on Fresh Mex.

OK, so they weren’t actually real-life Bible characters brought from the past to be my mealtime companions.  They were only actors in the show Daniel—the one I’ve milked three posts out of so far.  Still, they outranked me; I play four minor characters in the show, and each dies gruesomely.

Anyway, I started thinking about these characters, especially the kings (I don’t think I could get inside the head of a prophet, and I’m not even going to try to understand an angel).  For some reason, Nebuchadnezzar in particular fascinates me.  After all, this was a living, breathing man, not a cartoon character.  Even if he never ate a sweet pork burrito, I’m thinking that he could not have been so very different from me.

Before you point out the vast differences in our levels of power, let me remind you that anyone with a smart phone, central air, and access to indoor plumbing would have been given wizard status back in the day.  Power is relative; how one handles it is not.

Turns out, the more I think about it, the more I see that Old Neb and I share some disturbing similarities.

In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;

in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 

That’s Psalm 10:4, for those of you keeping score, and it pretty well sums up King Nebuchadnezzar.  He was full of himself.  His authority, his achievements, his wealth…it filled him to capacity, leaving no room for the truth of God.

Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful man, no question about it.  The guys who put out the bumper sticker, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it!” were probably thinking of him.

OK, probably not.

Still, Nebuchadnezzar failed to realize that all he had, all he was, came from the hand of Almighty God.  In his self-absorption, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t see that he was a tool God was using to glorify himself.  He boasted,

“Is this not the great Babylon I have built…by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30)

I…my…my…what a self-centered fool that Nebuchadnezzar was.  I would never say something like that.

Except I do.

And so do you.

Oh, you don’t use those words.  You don’t call your kingdom Babylon…I hope.  Because that would be really odd.  But you do have a kingdom, something that you have created by your mighty power and for the glory of your majesty.  Maybe it’s a career. Could be a talent.  Perhaps it’s a financial portfolio.  Perchance it’s an amazing, sculpted, rock-hard physique—OK, you guessed it, that’s mine.

“Oh, no, Michael,” you say.  “I know that everything I have, everything I am is from God and for God.”

You do?

I’m glad to hear that.

Really.

But is it true?  I mean, are you really living the words I just put in your mouth, or is your heart more like Nebuchadnezzar’s?

Don’t answer too quickly.  In fact, why don’t you ask the Holy Spirit to answer this one for you?

G’head, do it now…I’ll wait.

You too, huh?

You see, I know what words I’m supposed to say, and I even intend to mean them.  But there’s still a lot of flesh gumming up my spirit, and there are days when I still hold tightly to my Babylon.

God showed Nebuchadnezzar the error of his ways—and it wasn’t pretty.  It wasn’t even close to pretty.  In fact, it was seven years of horror and madness and poor hygiene and an extreme vegan diet.  But you gotta give the old guy credit.  Nebuchadnezzar repented.  Look, I don’t know if he got totally right with God, or if we’ll be seeing him in Heaven.  Read Daniel 4:36-37 and decide for yourself.  All I know is that God has a tendency to pry from our hands those things to which we hold too tightly, things that keep us from a right relationship with him.

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (Proverbs 3:34)

Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1Peter 5:6)

Time to let go of Babylon.