Wednesday of Lent 3
He Does According to His Will Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. King Nebuchadnezzar declared, “*I bless the Most High! He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth*.” Dear Christian friends: King Nebuchadnezzar might wonder why you or I should ever feel angry toward our God. We could certainly list our reasons—we tend not to forget such things—but Nebuchadnezzar would probably feel unimpressed. What impresses Nebuchadnezzar it the immense power of God. The king had to learn that, · when compared to the Most High, “*all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing*.” · for all his mighty power, no one gains anything by his own strength. “*The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will*.” · as soon as our God withdraws from us the hand of His mercy and grace, we turn beastly. This was quite literally Nebuchadnezzar’s case. In one moment, he could proudly survey his domain and say, “Look what I have built by my mighty power.” In the next moment, He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws. Nebuchadnezzar was hardly a faithful son of God, yet even he could see that his falling and his rising were acts of divine grace; that God humbled Nebuchadnezzar for the purpose of exalting him: Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are right and His ways are just; and those who walk in pride He is able to humble. If the Lord our God is so able to lower and to raise a pagan king, doing so as easily as flicking a light switch, how much more is He able to humble us according to His will? And should we not submit? The Scriptures declare with repetition and clarity that our God is “*merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love*” (Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8). Nebuchadnezzar helps us to see that, even when we suffer miserable experiences in life, such experiences do not indicate that God has withdrawn His mercy and love. The miserable things are simply the outworking of His mercy and love. By laying us low and then lifting us up again, the Lord our God has a couple of good things in mind for us: · First, by knocking us down, God positions us to receive God’s mercy. While walking on the rooftops of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar wanted nothing. Laying on the ground like an animal, Nebuchadnezzar could probably think of one or two things he would like to receive from God. He lost his mind, but “*at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High*.” So maybe God knocks us down in order to teach us that trust in Him is the only reasonable approach to life. · Second, the process of falling down and rising again places us upon the path of our Lord and Christ. The heavenly Father knocked Him down, too, and raised Him up again as well. The Scriptures declare that our falling and rising is simply a participation in Him who died and rose for our salvation. “*Rejoice that you share Christ’s sufferings*,” says Peter, “*so that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed*” (1 Peter 4:13). If you feel angry at God for what has happened—or what has failed to happen—then Nebuchadnezzar might suggest that you are perhaps looking at your situation too narrowly. Perhaps you have so focused your attention upon the falling down that you have been unable to notice the lifting up.
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