Those who walk in pride...

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. - Daniel 4v37

Nebuchadnezzar proclaims a truth here that he had to learn the hard way. To see that we need to go back just a little bit for some background.

One day the king was out walking in the beautiful gardens of Babylon. To parrowphrase his thoughts he said something like this – ‘Look at all I have done! I have this wonderful palace and these beautiful gardens and I am the ruler of a great kingdom. I, me, myself did all of this and it all shows just how great I am!’

I don’t know about you, but I don’t even need to be a powerful king walking in beautiful gardens to have those kinds of thoughts. Pride is a terrible thing that takes the least accomplishments and turns them in to something to be proud of. We, or at least I, can often think more highly of myself than I ought to think.

God used some an unusual method to teach Nebuchadnezzar that he wasn’t quite as great as he thought he was. For more on that read the verses just before the one above.

Suffice it to say the king was sufficiently humbled. When he was done he acknowledged that God was indeed the one in control. His works are true and His ways are just. He is able to put down those who walk in pride.

I suspect there are times when we all think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. I suspect there are times when we forget the warning that those who ‘think they stand take heed lest they fall.’ When that happens God us quite able to bring us back to earth.

We don’t like it, but humbling is a good thing. When we go through it we learn that we are not nearly as wonderful as we thought we were. We learn that we need to depend on our gracious Lord. Being knocked down always helps us to look up.