Week 9: Day 4

Intro: Hi and welcome back to Orbit, a short daily reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life. My name's Iona and we're going to be looking at the importance of a humble heart.

Bible: (Message translation)
Daniel answered the king, “No mere human can solve the king’s mystery, I don’t care who it is—no wise man, enchanter, magician, diviner. But there is a God in heaven who solves mysteries, and he has solved this one.

Thoughts: Do you dream? I don’t and I wish I did more. King Nebuchadnezzar has this crazy dream, and he searches through the land for someone who could interpret for him. And only Daniel can.

In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, there is a grand statue with different materials at different levels, representing the different kingdoms and their rule over the generations. Then, a large stone comes and topples the whole structure into pieces. The stone proceeds to develop into a huge mountain that dominates the scene.

It needs interpretation from God to be able to understand it. The stone represents God’s kingdom which triumphs all the other kingdoms represented by the other materials in the statue. Daniel gives all the glory to God when he could have become egotistical about the fact he was the only one who could interpret.

I had the privilege a few years ago of going to Iraq, where I met an incredible pastor who told me a story that reminded me of what we were talking about today. It’s a parable he uses to teach. It goes like this: There’s a grandfather who lives in a house where his windows overlooked the garden. And at the end of the garden is a huge strong and beautiful tree, that he could see every day. One night there was an awful storm, and he wakes up and sees the tree has fallen to the ground and been destroyed. When the storm subsides, the grandfather goes to have a closer look at the tree. To his surprise he realised that the storm was not the reason that the tree fell. The tree had an internal tree disease, which caused the tree to rot from the inside.

The pastor was using this story to remind the pastors of the need for a pure and humble heart. I found remarkable in the context of the pastors, they have been in some huge storms, pastoring through times of ISIS and hardship. Over and over again, there are messages of pride comes before a fall… that statue in the dream would have looked strong and impressive. The tree in the pastor’s story looked strong and beautiful but internally it was rotting away. God cares about your heart, a way to protect your hearts is through humility. Daniel ascribes all the glory to God.

Prayer: Jesus I thank you that you came and you are God. And you had every right to have all the glory, but you came as a servant, and in humility. Search our hearts for pride today and replace it with humility. Amen.