Chan Gailey, who at various times coached for the Pittsburg Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Kansas City Chiefs told a story some time ago about the time he was head coach of Alabama’s Troy State and they were playing for the National Championship. The week before the big game, he was headed to the practice field when a secretary called him back to take a phone call.
Somewhat irritated, Gailey told her to take a message because he was on his way to practice.
She responded, “But it's Sports Illustrated.”
“I'll be right there,” he said.
As he made his way to the building, he began to think about the upcoming article. It would be great publicity for a small school like Troy State to be in Sports Illustrated. As he got closer, he realized that a three-page article would not be sufficient to tell the whole story. Coming even closer to his office, he started thinking that he might be on the cover. “Should I pose or go with an action shot,” he wondered. His head was spinning with all of the possibilities.
When he picked up the phone and said hello, the person asked, “Is this Chan Gailey?”
“Yes, it is,” he replied confidently.
“This is Sports Illustrated, and we're calling to let you know that your subscription is running out. Are you interested in renewing?”
Coach Gailey concluded the story by saying, “You are either humble or you will be humbled.” (Chan Gailey speaking at a dinner in Dalton, Georgia, 4-20-04; www.PreachingToday.com)
How very true that is! And that’s cause for great concern as I think about our own American culture these days. Just a couple of years ago, New York Times columnist David Brooks commented on our tendency to be overconfident. “We're an overconfident species,” he said, calling it a “magnification of the self,” which he says is especially rampant in the United States.
For example: Although American students do not perform well on global math tests, they are among the world leaders in having self-confidence about their math abilities. 94 percent of college professors believe they have above-average teaching skills. 70 percent of high school students surveyed claim they have above-average leadership skills, and only 2 percent are below average. The number of high school seniors who believed that they were “a very important person”: in the 1950s – 12 percent; today – 80 percent (or more).
“In short,” Brooks concludes, “there's abundant evidence to suggest that we have shifted a bit from a culture that emphasized self-effacement – I'm not better than anybody else, but nobody is better than me – to a culture that emphasizes self-expansion.” (David Brooks, “The Modesty Manifesto,” The New York Times, 3-21-11; www.PreachingToday.com)
What would God say to such a culture, and how can we avoid the humiliation that’s sure to come if we continue down the same path for very much longer?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Daniel, Daniel 4, Daniel 4, where we have the musings of a man who had literally gone mad with pride. Nebuchadnezzar was at one time the most powerful man in the word and it all went to his head, but God taught him some things through that experience that he shares with us in this chapter.
Daniel 4:1-3 King Nebuchadnezzar, to the nations and peoples of every language, who live in all the earth: May you prosper greatly! It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how might his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation. (NIV)
Wow! What honor he pays to God. But how did he get there? How did he get from building a statue of gold 90 feet tall in honor of himself to honoring the One he calls “the Most High God?” Well, let’s read on.
Daniel 4:4-5 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me.
Nebuchadnezzar’s journey to faith started with fear. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar was extremely afraid because of a dream. The Aramaic words he uses speak of extreme terror, of shrinking back or even of running away in fear. Think about it: the most powerful man on earth afraid of a nightmare in the middle of the night. He may seem like a big man on the outside to the rest of the world, but he is a terrified little boy on the inside.
Many years ago, a woman saw Robert Redford walking through a hotel lobby and followed him to the elevator. “Are you the real Robert Redford?” she asked him with great excitement before he stepped into the elevator. Then as the doors of the elevator closed, he replied, “Only when I am alone.” (Bible Illustrator #2994-2995; 10/1986.1)
You see, the real man is not the man you see in a crowd in front of people. It’s the man you see when he’s all alone. A man can look so powerful and strong on the outside, but on the inside he may be a terrified little boy. He may want you to believe he’s got everything under control when he realizes he has absolutely no control. That was Nebuchadnezzar by his own self admission. On the inside, he was terrified because of a nightmare in the middle of the night.
Daniel 4:6-8 So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.) (NIV) – Or better, “the Spirit of the Holy God is in him.”
Daniel 4:9-16 I said, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians (or scholars), I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed. “In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He called in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field. “ ‘Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him. (NIV) – or seven years.
Daniel 4:17 “ ‘The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.’ (NIV)
Nebuchadnezzar may think he is a big and powerful man, but God sees him as “the lowliest of people.”
Daniel 4:18 “This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” (NIV)
Nebuchadnezzar asks Daniel to explain the meaning of this terrible nightmare of a flourishing tree cut down with only its stump left in the ground, that’s exactly what Daniel does. He interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream for him.
Daniel 4:19-27 Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its meaning alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries! The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air— you, O king, are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. “You, O king, saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field, while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven; let him live like the wild animals, until seven times pass by for him.’ “This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: 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.” (NIV)
Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and urges him to repent. Daniel boldly stands before the most powerful man on earth and admonishes him to change his ways. Does Nebuchadnezzar do it?
Daniel 4:28-30 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 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?” (NIV)
Nebuchadnezzar takes the credit for his own success: “It was MY hard work that got me where I am today. I built all this.” Nebuchadnezzar takes the credit for his own success and fails to recognize that he is where he is because GOD put him there, not because of his own strength and ingenuity. As a result, God teaches him a lesson.
Daniel 4:31-33 The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “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 cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. (NIV)
Nebuchadnezzar went insane, because he refused to acknowledge God as the source of his success. His pride drove him mad with a form of insanity the psychologists call zoanthropy.
John Walvoord, in his commentary on Daniel, talks about the case of a man in a British psychiatric hospital who had the same malady. “His mental symptoms included pronounced anti-social tendencies, and because of this he spent the entire day from dawn to dusk outdoors, on the grounds of the institution.
His daily routine consisted of wandering around the magnificent lawns… and it was his custom to pluck up and eat handfuls of grass as he went along. On observation, he was seen to discriminate carefully between grass and weeds… The diet of this patient consisted exclusively of grass from the hospital lawns. He never ate institutional food with the other [residents], and his only drink was water…
[His] only physical abnormality consisted of a lengthening of the hair and a coarse, thickened condition of the finger nails.” Walvoord says, “Without institutional care, the patient would have manifested precisely the same physical conditions as those mentioned in Daniel 4:33” (Walvoord, Daniel).
Nebuchadnezzar had gone mad with pride; and if he were here today, he would caution all of us…
DON’T BE PROUD OF YOUR OWN ACHIEVEMENTS.
Don’t elevate yourself above the Most High God and take credit for your own success. Don’t boast of your own accomplishments without giving glory to the God who put you there, because God opposes the proud. The Bible says, “Pride goes before a fall” every time.
Once upon a time, a turtle in Wisconsin wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. So he convinced a couple of geese to help him. The each took one end of a piece of rope, while the turtle clamped his vise-like jaws in the center, and off they flew.
The flight went fine until someone on the ground looked up in admiration and asked, “Who in the world thought of that?” Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened his mouth to shout, “I did—” (Homiletics, Jan – Mar 1996; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s what happens when we feel we have to take the credit for our own success. We fall every time.
But someone says, “I got to where I am today by my own power. I worked hard, and I made all the right choices. That’s why I succeeded in life.” Oh really! Who gave you the health and strength to do all that? Who gave you the wisdom and intelligence to make the right decisions?
It’s like Billy Graham once said when someone commented on his success as an evangelist: “When you see a turtle on a fencepost, you know it didn’t get there all by itself.”
You and I got to where we are today, because GOD put us here. HE gave us the health and the strength and the wisdom to achieve. And when we begin to think WE did it all, God has a way of showing us just how much we need Him.
During a 1923 training exercise, a naval destroyer called the USS Delphy led a flotilla of seven ships down the California coast. Lieutenant Commander Donald T. Hunter was the captain on board the USS Delphy. He was an experienced navigator and instructor at the Naval Academy, thus he took the lead.
About half way on their training mission, without warning, a thick blanket of fog descended on the ships. In the midst of the fog (as thick as “pea soup), Hunter could not get an accurate evaluation of his location, but that didn’t stop him from plowing ahead anyway. That was not surprising, because Hunter was known for his self-confident decisiveness and what others called his “magic infallibility” to guide his ship. Even so, contrary to Hunter's calculations, the lead ship was headed right into Devil's Jaw, a scant two miles off the California coast.
Traveling at 20 knots, the USS Delphy suddenly smashed broadside into the rocky Point Arguello shoreline. The force of the massive collision between welded steel and jagged rock split the hull of the USS Delphy in half. One by one, the other destroyers followed the Delphy's lead and smashed into the rocks, as well. Twenty-two naval men died, and the accident resulted in the loss of all seven ships. It still stands as one of the worst peacetime naval disasters in history. (Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy, McGraw Hill, 2003, p. 97; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s like Chan Gailey said, “You are either humble or you will be humbled.” That’s a lesson Nebuchadnezzar learned during the seven years of his insanity. And if he were here today, he would caution all of us: Don’t be proud of your own achievements. Instead…
HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE ALMIGHTY GOD.
Recognize your need of Him, and submit to His sovereign rule over your life. That’s what Nebuchadnezzar eventually came to do after seven years of madness.
Daniel 4:34-35 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (NIV)
Nebuchadnezzar finally came to realize who was really in charge.
Daniel 4:36-37 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 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. (NIV)
When Nebuchadnezzar recognized God’s sovereignty, his sanity was restored along with his splendor. My dear friends, if you want YOUR sanity restored, then do the same thing. Recognize God’s sovereign hand at work in your own life and humble yourself before him.
You see, it is the height of insanity to think that you are the master of your own fate. On the other hand, when you cease trying to play God in your own life, and when you submit to the true and living God, then and only then do you find true wisdom; then God restores your sanity and allows you to shine like never before.
It’s the only way any of us ever get to heaven. We must first acknowledge that we are sinners unable to save ourselves. Then we must depend on Christ, who died for us and rose again, to save us.
It’s also the only way any of us ever achieve anything worthwhile in this life. We must realize that without God we can do nothing. Then we must depend on God to do the impossible through us, to give us a life truly worth living. Donald Gray Barnhouse put it well in his commentary on Revelation: “Christ sends none away empty but those who are full of themselves.” (www.PreachingToday.com)
Please, learn the lessons Nebuchadnezzar has for you this morning. Don’t be proud of your own achievements. Instead, humble yourself before Almighty God.
In his book, Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias talks about a trip he made to India where he noticed a father and a son weaving some of the most beautiful wedding saris in the world.
Zacharias explains that “the sari… is the garment worn by Indian women. It is usually six yards long, [and they] are a work of art. They are rich in gold and silver threads, resplendent with an array of colors.”
Zacharias says, “The place I was visiting was known for making the best wedding saris in the world. I expected to see some elaborate system of machines and designs that would boggle the mind. Not so! Each sari was being made individually by a father-and-son team. The father sat above on a platform two to three feet higher than the son, surrounded by several spools of thread, some dark, some shining.
“The son did just one thing. At a nod, from his father, he would move the shuttle from one side to the other and back again. The father would gather some threads in his fingers, nod once more, and the son would move the shuttle again. This would be repeated for hundreds of hours, till you would begin to see a magnificent pattern emerging.
“The son had the easy task – just to move at the father's nod. All along, the father had the design in mind and brought the threads together.”
Then Zacharias concludes: “The more I reflect on my own life and study the lives of others, I am fascinated to see the design God has for each one of us… if we would only respond to him. (Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods, Zondervan, 2000, pp. 17-18; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, please stop resisting the Lord. Instead, respond to Him today and let Him start weaving a beautiful pattern into YOUR life.
