“I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal… He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him…” Daniel 4:34-35.
Lord Jesus, we receive this familiar story as a fresh mercy-bomb, grace-lift, sanity-maker. After humbling King Nebuchadnezzar, you convinced him (and remind us) that there’s only one everlasting King (you) and one eternal Kingdom (yours). Make this more real than ever to us.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got to see you turn Nebuchadnezzar’s lions into purring kittens, and his 7-fold hot flames became like 7 flickering candles. As we turn our eyes upon you, Jesus—setting our gaze on your wonderful face, “the things of earth grow strangely dim by the light of your glory and grace.”
Indeed, the better we know you, Jesus, the closer we walk with you, the more time we spend savoring your truth, goodness, and beauty—the “things of earth”—our fears, distractions, heart-idols, temptations, threats, and pain—they all get gloriously and wonderfully “dim.” “Dim” as in diminished and downsized, put into perspective and shrunk to their proper size. Hallelujah!
Jesus, you are already “ruler of the kings of the earth”—seated and sovereign over heaven’s angels, earth’s everything, and our unfolding stories. Thank you for always doing as you please, not as we beg. Turn up the rheostat on your glory, grace, and face. Turn our fears into faith, our mourning into dancing, our sweaty palms into joyful hands lifted to you in worship and trust. So Very Amen.