I’m Losing My Ever-Lovin’ Mind

Feb. 10

Read: Daniel 4:34-37

I’m Losing My Ever-Lovin’ Mind

“At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever…” (v.34)

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I am going to lose my mind!” (It happens to some of us more than others. Lol.) There are any number of things that could cause us to feel this way, but no matter the cause the remedy is the same. It is the Lord that restores soundness of mind and brings us back to our senses. He is working this out in the people he has chosen and called to himself as sons and daughters - his “chosen ones”. (cf. Col. 3:12) Likewise, there is another sort of “chosen” person in the scriptures. These are not necessarily people that God has called to be sons and daughters, yet he HAS chosen them to rule, or lead, or carry out a specific task. Nebuchadnezzar is an example of this - God chose HIM as king of Babylon. What we see here is stunning: even for this type of “chosen” person… not yet a believer but put into their position by God… God’s grace and mercy is abundant.

It was Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and arrogance that brought about his being brought down by the Lord. He was reduced to an animal-like state. This is fitting because pride, selfishness, and arrogance are “fleshly’ attributes and our fleshly body is most similar to that of an animal; our bodies are driven by fleshly desires that feel almost like “instincts” to us. Basically, the king was given fully over to his fleshly desires (pride and arrogance) and then experienced the natural outworking… he became an animal. God did not leave him this way though… even a pagan king who was leading a foreign nation that captured God’s people and drove them into exile! As God’s “chosen ones” you will not be left feeling crazy forever! God restores to us the ability to think clearly, or to put it another way: God enables us to act like HUMANS and not animals. If our fleshly desires make us animal-like, our spirits awakened by God and our minds restored by him make us human again. There is great HOPE in this. When we feel like we are losing our minds, or that we cannot understand or make sense of the world around us… the answer is not to dive deeper into studying the news or researching a topic. The return to being “human” comes from seeking the Lord and his awakening of your spirit and renewing of your mind. God will restore your “senses” to you. If he did it for Nebuchadnezzar… how much more will he do it for his CHILDREN!

Sometimes we need to experience these desperate moments to realize just how much we need the Lord’s guidance. The Lord may for a “season” (or for the king it was “7 periods of time”) painfully remove from us something that we idolize in an effort to prepare us to receive greater blessing and breakthrough from HIM. (cf. John 15) Look at Ol’ Neb here: “At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me.” (v.36) Seems dangerous to add “more greatness” to a guy who just finished being corrected for being too arrogant, megalomaniacal, an prideful… doesn’t it? But the truth is that God prepares us to “bear more fruit” through these seasons of trial and “losing our mind”. Nebuchadnezzar was in a better place to recieve even more “greatness” because of what God had done to him - namely “pruned him” and removed from him his senses and kingdom for a period of time.

The final note is the way that Neb worships the Lord. (I am tired of typing Nebuchadnezzar… Ha!) :

“…his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;

all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

and he does according to his will among the host of heaven

and among the inhabitants of the earth;

and none can stay his hand

or say to him, “What have you done?”…

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (v.34,35,37)

As we wrestle with the culture and rule around us… when we feel like we cannot make sense of it… let us turn to the Lord in WORSHIP AND PRAISE and ask him to return to us our senses. Some of us have had our mind hijacked by the things we covet, or the social media we escape into, or the virtual world we have created, or our tv shows or hobbies or etc… These are the things that “take our minds from us”. They rob us of our attention, they capture our “hearts”. Cry out to the Lord to return your mind to you… to bring back your senses to you. Ask the Lord to restore you to the “kingdom” (think relationships, job, circle of influence, etc.) that he has given to you. When you come back - the people who love you and serve you / work with you will receive you; then you can lead them in worship and point them to the goodness and truth of who God is… just like ‘Ol Neb. Love you guys. -JDP