God Does as He Pleases

“He considers all of the nations on earth to be nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven. He does what he wants with the nations of the earth. No one can hold his hand back. No one can say to him, ‘What have you done?’” Daniel 4:35

NOTE: Paragraph four begins the “wow” thoughts about this verse.

These are remarkable words magnifying the sovereignty and power of God over all creation. He considers nations “nothing” and exercises His will over all of heaven. When God decides to execute His plan over nations, there is nothing that can stop Him. There is no one above God, no one to which He must answer for His actions. Because He is both holy (completely good and righteous) and all-powerful, he can be both sovereign and independent in His actions.

Having created the entire universe, He also has power over it all. Sometimes we consent that God controls or has power over the seasons, the planets, and even those far reaching corners of the universe we barely understand. But, when it comes to things that involve humans, we are less certain. Yet mankind is no less a part of God’s creation and cannot overrule God’s plans any more than the planet Mercury can decide to become a rose bush or a roaring lion. We acknowledge man has free will, but only insofar as God has allowed it. God can override that will at any time He chooses.

If God used His power for evil, or without accompanying wisdom, we might consider His sovereignty something to fear. But, because He also is holy, every motivation is for the ultimate good of all His creation. We may even say that God is self-interested if we understand that every interest He possesses is consumed with goodness, compassion and fairness. The only reason that self-interest is a suspect motivator of humans is that we are not always exercising our will for the mutual good.

(Paragraph four). The God of the Bible is portrayed as both sovereign and good. The vast majority of authors of Scripture were monotheistic Jews who held a high view of God. But, what if we hear words like this come unexpectedly from the ruler of one of the greatest kingdoms of his time and who also was given to pagan and polytheistic thought? That is our “wow” moment, for, though these words are quoted in the Book of Daniel, he is not the one who speaks them. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon is the author of these high-sounding words of worship.

It may be hard for a westerner brought up in the milieu of Christendom to understand how shocking this would be. But imagine one of the leaders of Al Qaeda suddenly extolling the virtues of Jesus Christ, acknowledging Him as the not just a prophet, but the Son of God and Savior of all mankind. We would all be checking Snopes.com day after day until we finally found an article that satisfied our curiosity as to whether the story was true, false, plausible or impossible to determine.

But Nebuchadnezzar did say these things. He praised the power and greatness of God and His sovereignty over individual nations because King Nebuchadnezzar had experience them personally. Having a dream that greatly disturbed him; he called in Daniel to interpret the dream for him. Having established himself as a capable interpreter of dreams, loyal to the king, and devoted to the God of Israel, Daniel was trusted to give a true interpretation. The king’s other “magicians” were suspect. They could not be trusted to deliver a message which, negative towards the king, might threaten their own positions or even their own lives.

Daniel is disturbed because he knows the dream is about King Nebuchadnezzar. God spoke through Daniel’s interpretation, telling the king that, for seven years he would walk around his kingdom as a madman. He would lose his throne, act like an animal, and be so insane that he would leave his nails to grow out like claws of a bird, and his hair like eagles’ feathers.

Just as it was said, so it happened. Nebuchadnezzar would not bow to the King of the universe  at least not as a result of his dream and interpretation. But, after seven long years of wandering his kingdom, eating grass like an animal, God restores both his sanity and his throne. And Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, exclaims some of the most beautiful words about God’s greatness in all of Scripture.

God not only can do as He wishes with the kingdoms of the earth and all the powers in the heavens, He gives demonstrations to prove it. But notice the compassion of God. He is not interested in wiping out a kingdom which does not worship Him; he is interested in bringing its ruler to a living acknowledgement of God Himself.

This should instruct us about how we approach individuals and nations who seem to want nothing to do with God. Can He not deal with them as He wishes? Why do we act as if God cannot fend for Himself? I do not know why God works strongly in one life and seems to leave another to its own consequences. But I do know that in both His power and wisdom, God rules His universe.

For those who want to follow Jesus, this should be a great encouragement. The kingdom of God will not fail. His kingdom cannot suffer loss. But, His kingdom also is different from any kingdom mankind has set upon the earth. It takes strong effort on our parts to rid our perception of God as King of “my way of seeing things.” I hope it doesn’t take seven years of acting like a donkey to convince me He can handle the universe. But, at the same time, it has taken my lifetime so far, to trust Him with some of the simplest issues of life.

So, if a pagan king can be brought to exclamations of worship, certainly God can handle the needs of my own life. Not only that, and much more importantly, God can change the preconceptions of my own heart as well. I want to bow before the Great, Good and All-Powerful God of all and, in loving wonder, submit every concern and question to His wise protection and preservation of His creation.