SCRIPTURE: Daniel 4
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before. [Daniel 4:36]
Nebuchadnezzar is sharing his testimony; vv.4-37 are written in Aramaic, perhaps a copy of his written testimony?
He explains how pride led him to boast about himself and forget about God, and how God humbled him to the level of animals before he came to his senses (his sanity restored) and turned back to God in repentance and humility.
This is a common theme in the bible, illustrated by this disturbing personal story of someone who was not even a Jew.
A lesson from this is that the God of the Jews, later the God of Jesus, is the God of the Universe, of all nations.
Though there are many religions and perspectives, there is only one God; and His will and purpose stand for all people, not just for those that know Him.

The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ So he returned home to his father. [Luke 15:16-20]
The details are different, but the underlying story is the same.
Someone that assumes that they can survive without God, someone that hopes in their wealth and wits… only to discover that they can’t.
The prodigal son also ends up among the animals, and eventually comes to his senses and returns to his father.

There is only one God, and that God is not an ogre or a despot – that God is a loving Father that desires our well-being.
We are the fools that have thought that we could make it without God; and for a time, we do well.
Like the king, like the prodigal son, there is a time when we enjoy our ‘freedom’ and the pleasures of wealth.
For a time, but history provides a multitude of examples of people who painfully discovered the bondage of such ‘freedom’.
So many whose lives devolved from greatness to shame, some even reduced to an ‘animal’ life.
God does not want this for anyone, and He will do what it takes to help us come to our senses.
He will allow us to wander and experience the painful results of our foolish ‘freedom’.
God allows us to see what life is like without Him, so that our sanity will return to us.

When we come to our senses, the way is open for us to repent and return; God is not eager to punish us, just to show us the truth and restore us to Himself and the better life He has in mind for us.
May we come to our senses sooner rather than later, and may we discover the Father’s love when we return to Him!

PRAYER:
Lord, I see myself in these stories. How I rely on myself and not on You. Help me to come to my senses where I am wandering from You, or acting as if I can survive and thrive without You! Restore my sanity!