Theological Commentary: Click Here
There is a
simple message in Daniel 5. God can
forgive a great many things, but He is deeply bothered by arrogance. Nebuchadnezzar was proud, but able to be
humbled. Belshazzar, on the other hand,
was arrogant. Belshazzar took the tings
of God and made them his own. He sat in
the seat of God himself. In the end, the
very night he was so arrogant, he died and lost his kingdom.
A cursory
scan of the religious leaders that are lifted up in the Hebrew scriptures gives
us a varied list. Abraham was confident,
manipulative, and faithful. Joseph was proud,
hard working, and serious. Moses was unsure
of himself, loyal, and disciplined.
David was passionate, assertive, and faithful. There are others, of course, but we’d
continue to get a varied combination of leadership traits. The one thing that they all were, though, was
capable of being humbled. They were able
to be shown their error and repent of it.
God can see
our flaws. He can accept our
imperfections and work through them.
What He can’t do, though, is accept arrogance. The arrogant heart cannot be humbled. It cannot accept its flaws. It cannot accept teaching, training, or mentoring. The arrogant heart can only be judged.
I love the juxtaposition
between Nebuchadnezzar’s moment of insanity versus Belshazzar’s moment of
insanity. Nebuchadnezzar is able to
recover because his heart is willing to repent and change. Belshazzar is unable to recover because there
is no humility and ability to repent within.
The moral of
the story? Everyone has their flaws, and
God is willing to work through the flaws of those who know the meaning of the world
humble.
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