GAIN THROUGH PAIN

 Can any good come out of suffering? Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest king of the Babylonian dynasty is an example that shouts ‘yes’ to that. The end of Chapter 4 in the book of Daniel in the Bible describes the incredible turnaround of the greatest king of his era. At the height of his power and glory, when he felt nothing could go wrong with him, he goes through a period of probable insanity.

33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

No longer able to govern his kingdom, he was driven away from his kingdom. For a king with no equal, to be forced into a situation where he had to live like an animal, it would have been unimaginably hard. No one would have welcomed it and we can be sure Nebuchadnezzar didn’t either. But here he was, with no luxuries, no friends and no power. But even through this period, he recognizes that above all, this was a deliberate period of time appointed by the Sovereign Lord to bring him to a greater recognition of Him.

34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

Jolted to a realization that despite his position and lineage, he is indeed temporal and finite with limited capabilities and inadequate power, he understands that true authority and dominion belongs only to God. While we do see kingdoms and experience authorities in this world, there is only one authority that endures. He goes on to utter a statement that is supremely toxic to those who do not want to do anything with God, “he does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth”. He goes on,

37 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.

Yet when coupled with the realization that He is a good God who does everything right and is an epitome of justice, the sovereignty of God becomes the greatest treasure for a believer.

36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.

 The story ends in an amazing fashion. The God who took away his kingdom restores it to him in a greater measure. He comes away from this humbling experience with a greater realization of the ultimate truth and with a willingness to submit to the true God, who is the embodiment of that truth.

And so when suffering arrives, can we recognize the sovereignty of God and say ‘Amen’ to it? That is the wisdom we see demonstrated by Nebuchadnezzar and that is the wisdom we are called to replicate.

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