The King, Full of Himself   

     Even if we see a miracle, we tend to see it on our terms, not through God's eyes. Nebuchadnezzar was no exception.

     He was so thrilled to know the unseen God gave him dominion, power, might and glory, that he ordered an image of gold 90 feet high. He decreed that everyone must worship this idol when the music begins.

     Astrologers saw an opportunity to get rid of privileged Jews, of whom they were jealous. They told the king that Daniel's three friends refused to worship his image, which made the king furious. (Daniel may have been out of town?) 

     He had a furnace so overheated the soldiers who threw the three men into it - themselves died. Hey! The king sees four men walking around in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. 

     He calls them to come out of the furnace. The fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them. 

     The king still doesn't understand the one true God, yet he threatens to cut into pieces anyone who says anything against the God of these three men. And he promotes them. But his ego remains high.

     Later, the king was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the due of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

     After seven times (years) his sanity was restored. He wrote, "Then I praised the Most High. I honored and glorified him who lives forever." 

     Do we glorify God as the king finally did?

     We wouldn't mind seeing Vladimir Putin driven away in like manner.  But Nebuchadnezzar has already told the world about the Most High God.

Tomorrow: A hand without a body