The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (Daniel 2:47)

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was a man who had an up and down relationship with God, until he was finally humbled. The last words we hear from him are the following:

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” (Dan 4:37)

But he was a deeply flawed man, for his absolute power on the human level kept giving rise to the pride imbedded in the human heart and the attendant arrogance that so easily grips us all. The only difference between us and Nebuchadnezzar is that (on the human level) he had limitless opportunity to live out his self-centeredness. Who of us wouldn’t, in all honesty, like to imagine ourselves depicted in a 90-foot-high statue made of gold, for all to see and admire (in fact, to worship), as Nebuchadnezzar had made for himself (Dan 3:1)? While we will probably never have that opportunity, we certainly want to be noticed for our gifts and talents, sometimes blazoning our benevolence for others to see.

Yet even this pagan king, when faced with the real faith of Daniel, admitted that though he himself might be the greatest king on earth at the time, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the “Lord of kings,” as our passage today indicates. The word “Lord” used here is an Aramaic word (used in Daniel 2:4 through 7:28) that carries the normal meaning of our English word “Lord,” meaning one having authority to rule over another. We must grant Nebuchadnezzar the honesty to recognize that there was a greater power he could not escape. While many kings through history have chosen to reject completely the notion of anything being greater than themselves, Nebuchadnezzar at least at times humbled himself before this power whom he acknowledged to be the God of Daniel, the God of the Jews.

If, in the words of this king, God is the “Lord of kings,” then He is also Lord of all lesser human beings. Whether we are popular, influential, wealthy, politically powerful, highly educated or blessed with good looks, He is Lord over all of us.

Lord, the One who rules over kings, presidents, prime ministers and dictators, I humbly bow to Your lordship over my life.