ANGLICAN DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL FOR NOVEMBER 18, 2022 (GOD DETESTS THE PROUD)
TOPIC : ”GOD DETESTS THE PROUD”
Read: Daniel 4:1-18(NKJV)
1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.
2. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.
3. How great [are] His signs, And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion [is] from generation to generation.
4. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace.
5. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
6. Therefore I issued a decree to bring in all the wise [men] of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.
7. Then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, and I told them the dream; but they did not make known to me its interpretation.
8. But at last Daniel came before me (his name [is] Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god; in him [is] the Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the dream before him, [saying:]
9. “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God [is] in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.
10. “These [were] the visions of my head [while] on my bed: “I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, And its height was great.
11. The tree grew and became strong; Its height reached to the heavens, And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.
12. Its leaves [were] lovely, Its fruit abundant, And in it [was] food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, And all flesh was fed from it.
13. ” I saw in the visions of my head [while] on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven.
14. He cried aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get out from under it, And the birds from its branches.
15. Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth, [Bound] with a band of iron and bronze, In the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, And [let] him graze with the beasts On the grass of the earth.
16. Let his heart be changed from [that of] a man, Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven times pass over him.
17. ‘This decision [is] by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’
18. “This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise [men] of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you [are] able, for the Spirit of the Holy God [is] in you.”
MESSAGE
STUDY: The passage before us today gives us a picture of how the Lord revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream the plan to humiliate him and bring him to his knees until he acknowledges the sovereignty of God. The Lord God of all wisdom hid the interpretation of the dream from all magicians and their cohorts but revealed same to Daniel His servant to further prove His supremacy over the gods of darkness.
Although the Lord blessed Nebuchadnezzar and endued him with greatness, he revealed his plans to reduce him to an animal and pour contempt on his pride (vv. 4-15). We are encouraged from the narrative above to cultivate the virtue of humility. All the endowments of individuals, family, Church and nation were given to us by the Lord God Almighty (see Deut. 8:18; Acts 17:28). We must use all that God has given to us to worship Him and like John the Baptist, we must learn to say “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
PRAYER: When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the prince of glory died. My richest gain I count but loss a
The Anglican Communion is the fourth-largest Christian denomination. Founded in 1867 in London, England, the communion currently has 85 million members within the Church of England and other national and regional churches in full communion.
