Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Sep 17 2019 - Daniel 4:24-37 – Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation

Yesterday we read of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Today's reading begins with Daniel's interpretation of the dream which Daniel concludes with advice to the king, "Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue" (v. 27). Daniel particularly highlights the need for the king to act as servant to his people, caring for their welfare rather than seeking his own riches and glory at their expense.

The dream and Daniel's advice may have made a momentary impression on King Nebuchadnezzar, but it was soon forgotten for we read:

Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" (vv. 29-30).

Nebuchadnezzar was filled with pride in his own achievements and his glory – the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" were one of the wonders of the ancient world. He is full of a sense of self-satisfaction. It is while his boast is still on his lips that a voice from heaven tells him that his terrifying dream of the previous year will now come true:

This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. (vv. 31-32)

King Nebuchadnezzar seems to have had some form of mental breakdown. He left his palace to live in the open air and feed on whatever he could find to hand – even eating grass like an ox. His hair grew wildly and his nails were untrimmed. Doctor Monty Barker, a consultant psychiatrist, writes: "As far as Nebuchadnezzar's illness is concerned, the features are of a fairly acute onset of insanity, with the apparent delusional idea that he was an animal. The length of time that he was unwell is not clear, but he also seems to have had a spontaneous remission and returned to sanity and changed his way of life and outlook subsequently. This kind of history is much more typical of a depressive illness with relatively acute onset… Most such illnesses had a spontaneous remission within a period of one, two and occasionally more years. The person who recovered would recover complete insight, as did Nebuchadnezzar, apparently."

After a period of perhaps seven years, Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses when he raised his eyes towards heaven. The chapter then ends with his psalm of praise of Almighty God. Restored to his throne he acknowledges (v. 37):

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

An exaggerated view of our own importance can literally drive us insane as we find it hard to come to terms with the refusal of the world to bend itself to our demands. On the other hand, a knowledge that the living God is our heavenly Father who cares for us and is in sovereign control of all that happens, fills us with a sense of security and peace. But this is not always an easy lesson for us to learn. It sometimes requires us to be humbled through times of trial before we come to a right mind.

Lord God, we thank you that you have demonstrated the greatness of your love for us in sending your beloved Son from heaven to be our Saviour. Help me to trust in your care for all the details of my daily life, confident in the knowledge that, "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be", and that you have ordered all things in love. So teach me to be content in you and to rejoice in you no matter what each day may bring.

Sep 17 2020 - Matthew 18:21-19:12 – Forgive as the Lord forgave you

In response to Peter's question concerning how often he should forgive someone who sins against him, Jesus tells a parable concerning a king and his servants. The king forgives one of his servants who owed him an immense debt which he could never repay. That same servant then went out of the king's presence to lay hold of a fellow servant who owed him a small amount and threw him in prison until he could pay the debt. When the king heard of it he was very angry and, in turn, threw the servant who had owed him an immense debt into prison. This, says Jesus, is what the kingdom of heaven is like. And, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart" (Matthew 18:35).

This is a complex and challenging parable. On the one hand the basic message is clear: God has forgiven us a great debt which we could never repay; in response, we should freely and gladly forgive those who sin against us. This much is clear, yet how difficult we find it to forgive from the heart. How easy we find it to harbour resentments against those who have hurt us. Hurts and injustices from years back seem somehow indelibly stamped on our minds and the memory of them floods back when we meet the person again. The only remedy to such resentments and feelings is a deep awareness of our own offences against God and the wonder of his forgiveness of us. We need also to remember the cost of our forgiveness; our great debt was fully paid by another. It is out of the heartfelt awareness that we are a forgiven people that we become a people who forgive others from our heart. Paul urges the Christians to whom he is writing, "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13).

But there is a sting in the tail of this parable. Jesus suggests that if we do not forgive one another, neither will God forgive us (Matthew 18:35). This is a hard saying for we are all aware of our own imperfection. We know that we ought to forgive others as we have been forgiven, but we know also that we are not yet all that we should be – and hope yet to be. Is it really true that if we fail in the smallest regard to be like God we will for ever be condemned? I do not wish to dilute the seriousness of this saying of Jesus, but neither do I want to leave us without hope. I think that Jesus is telling us that if we harbour a resentful and unforgiving spirit we show ourselves to be those who have not been touched by the grace of God. Jesus' parable is not told to condemn us but is told to Peter and to us as a call to continual forgiveness, even as God forgives us.

Mutual forgiveness is essential if we are to live well with those closest to us. The harbouring of resentments against a spouse destroys a marriage even as self-denying love strengthens the bonds of family and friends. We need to keep guard over our hearts that they may not become hardened through the imagination that others have not treated us as we deserve; they need constantly to be softened through the wonder that God has not treated us as our sins deserved.

Loving Father, help me to see more clearly the marvel of your grace towards me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help me by your Spirit always to treat others in ways which reflect the love and forgiveness you have lavished upon me. Help me to value and nurture my relationships with others rather than undermine them through dissatisfaction, bitterness and resentment.

Peter Misselbrook