As our look at Daniel moves on to chapter 4 I am reminded of a post I made back in February; Humble ones self. This was provoked by a sermon looking at this very passage and, at the risk of repeating myself, for me this still the key to what we can learn here.

Dictionary.com has the following entry for the word humble:

1. Marked by meekness or modesty in behaviour, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
2. Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
3. Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly: a humble cottage.

This is God’s requirement. We are to humble ourselves. God hates the proud. It is His job to raise up whom He chooses, not ours.

Here is how it describes being humbled:

1. To curtail or destroy the pride of; humiliate.
2. To cause to be meek or modest in spirit.
3. To give a lower condition or station to; abase.

This is what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar because despite the warning brought to him by the dream, via Daniels interpretation, he refused to check his pride and humble himself. As mentioned in my previous post this is clearly not a good place to be.

But that is all very well for a King, or somebody else in high position. It’s clear that they have a need to remain humble and it’s probably even clear on how they can do it, but what about me? I don’t have a high position, lots of money, fame, or influence. How does this call to humility affect me?

All of us have a certain amount of pride. We want people to think highly of us. We want people to think we are good at what we do. We want people to take our side in a disagreement or to agree with our opinions on an issue. This element of pride is what God wants us to remove. We should not feel the need to “big ourselves up” and we should not be concerned, in this respect, of other people’s opinion of us. God’s view of us is all that should matter and he sees the heart; which is where the pride that causes all the problems lives.

I’m not saying for a second that this is easy. I myself am struggling with this at the moment with a difficult situation at work. But I know that need to remain focused on the fact that God knows my heart and my motivations irrespective of how others may be attempting to put me down. It’s God’s job to build me up, not my own. Not easy though.

I’m also not saying that it’s wrong to be proud of our achievements. We should not run ourselves down. That’s false humility, which only takes away the glory from God for the success His gifts have given us. We just need to keep all things in perspective. God gives, and God takes away.