Truth Matters 67: The Importance of Keeping Our Commitments

On today's Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis, she discusses the importance of keeping our commitments, especially commitments made to the Lord. In Revelation 3.15, Jesus says, I wish you were either hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. When we are not fully committed to the Lord, we are not really committed at all.

We are lukewarm. This was the case for the ancient King Nebuchadnezzar. I pray for us that we make deep commitments early. But what I see oftentimes is that we make shallow commitments because the trial doesn't push us deep enough or more on our knees to God as we need to be. I pray that we see God for whom He is and we see that all His works are truth and all His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are higher than ours. And that we make deep commitments early on in this journey so that we can be obedient and we can glorify God with our lives. In verses 26 through 28, we see Daniel's compassion for Nebuchadnezzar because he says, King, let my advice be acceptable to you. He says, really break off your sins by being righteous.

So he's telling him, you can change your ways. Seek the Lord. Show mercy to the poor.

Perhaps this may lengthen your prosperity. He wanted to try to be righteous. He wanted to help him as much as possible. But as we see in verses 28 through 33, it doesn't appear that Nebuchadnezzar changed his ways. and for the honor of my majesty." Basically, he's taking credit for building Babylon, saying that he did it on his own, and it's to honor him.

Very dangerous words. While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven. King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you, and they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen.

His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. Whenever you look at this group of verses, really, what is the root of Nebuchadnezzar's sin? Obviously, it's pride. And as we know, pride is number one on God's hate list. So I'd like to really look in what the Bible says about pride. Obviously, we find a lot of verses in Proverbs. So I'm just gonna turn to Proverbs just to share some of those verses with you. In Proverbs 6, 16 through 17, these six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are abomination to him, a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deceives wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among the brethren. But really, when you think about it, pride was the sin that began all sin when Satan said, I will be like the most high God.

Pride is the root of sin. In this case, Nebuchadnezzar was extremely prideful, and it took him losing his mind to gain it all back. So when he was at the peak of his most prideful point is in verse 28, and then still when the words were in his mouth, the Lord spoke and really delivered his judgment that he turned into a wild beast. He had the mind of a beast or a heart of a beast.

He was cast out of the palace. He ate grass like oxen. The dew would hit him in the morning, and it took seven years. He walked through this for seven years, and his hair grew like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. Like many of us, Nebuchadnezzar struggled with ego most of his life. Instead of letting the Lord sit on the throne of his heart, he let himself sit there, thinking that he was the almighty one and not God. It was through his experience living as a wild beast in the wilderness for seven years that he came to the realization of the greatness of God, realizing that it was the Lord who made him great, not he himself. We all have had times in life when we have struggled with pride, allowing it to weaken our relationship with God. If you think you were like this, Dr. Davis is available to help. You can reach her by email at Cheryl Davis at projecttruthmatters.com or connect with her on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. We are a ministry of The Truth Project.