This week, we are looking at the story of another nightmare experienced by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4).  Recall that the audience for the stories in Daniel were Jewish people who had been oppressed by one empire after another for over 500 years.  They did not have the military strength to overcome the regimes.  They fought back here and there, but could not sustain themselves in the face of the greater military strength which came against them.  How do people press on when their life experience feels like one attack after another, where there is little to no hope for seeing things turned around in the foreseeable future?  (See Psalm 137 for a sense of their anguish).  Such seasons of life come to all of us in one form or another, forcing questions that we otherwise avoid while in our comfort and ease.  Where is hope, really?  Who are we?  What are we really made of?  Who do we want to be?  Where do we put our trust?

The Jewish listeners no doubt took solace in the stories of Daniel, including this one, where the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar was given a warning-dream by God, the only one who could interpret it was the Jewish hero Daniel, and the truth of the dream came to pass just as Daniel predicted.  This story (and the others) would serve to give hope to the Jews in exile, who weren’t at home physically.  It reminded them to keep placing their trust in what they knew to be true about God, and who they were as God’s people.

I think this theme still plays today.  The world is – and always will be to varying degrees – one in which people of faith will not feel at home. There will always be those whose greed, self-centeredness, and desire for power will lead toward great conflict and pain in systems great and small.  In marriages, families, schools, churches, communities, states, nations – history is filled with ugly examples of humanity at its worst.  When we feel stuck in a moment we can’t get out of, we can feel drawn in a number of directions, including feeling absolutely hopeless and apathetic.  The Jewish people as a whole found strength in their faith, believing that even if life wasn’t treating them the way they had hoped, the God they believed in was still the source of life and hope (and not the Emperors who pretended to be God).  This informed their identity and their actions: who are we as people of faith?  They discovered that they could feel at home in their faith even if their circumstances were hostile.  Contemplative prayer is especially helpful in this regard, as it serves to ground us in the presence of God who is always seeking to heal, restore, and give strength for our respective journeys.  And it works.  There are simply too many stories of faithful people who, especially when facing their most challenging moments, were filled with the presence of God’s love and peace.  They may not have been where they wanted to be, and yet they were simultaneously at home in God.  If you are feeling particularly exiled, I hope you will join our Jewish ancestors in claiming anew your faith and the identity it brings.

Let’s turn our attention to the two primary characters and see what they can teach us.  Daniel once again modeled incredible grace as he courageously spoke truth to Nebuchadnezzar.  Of course, as he realized that the interpretation of the dream was bad news for the king, he was really wise to be gracious lest he lose he head!  In the Bible’s New Testament Letter to the Ephesians, we read in verse 4:15 that we are called, as mature and maturing followers of Jesus, to speak the truth in love.  Some days I am pretty mature.  Some days I am not.  Sometimes I am shocked at how quickly my maturity in Christ goes out the window.  How fun it could have been for Daniel to turn the dream into a “you’re going to get yours” moment.  But he didn’t.  Even with the enemy, Daniel chose to be graceful.  Jesus told us not just to love the people we easily love, but to even love our enemies.  This becomes an indicator of who the Jesus people are – they love even those who don’t “deserve” it, because everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.   Because this is who we are.  Do you have a conflict situation in your life?  How are you doing on this front?  Are you at home in the way you treat others whilst in conflict?

Obviously, the last character we face is King Nebuchadnezzar.  Once again, the megalomaniac found out he was wrong and eventually came around to honoring God (at least momentarily).  The dream, he found out, was a warning.  If he did not turn from his current path which was in contrast to the Way of God, things would go very badly for him.  Daniel begged, “King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper” (Daniel 4:27 NLT). Nebuchadnezzar didn’t heed the advice and instead lived out the dream.  He lost his mind and his freedom to continue the path he was on.  He was no longer at home, but in a wild place.  He was living an experience of what he had forced on countless others whom he exiled, living in bondage for seven seasons.  Seven, not an accidental or arbitrary number as it represents perfection or completion: he was in bondage for “enough” seasons for him to come to his senses.

Has anybody ever called you Nebuchadnezzar?  They could, because his is the human experience.  We may not get such a fancy dream and a Daniel to interpret it, but we get warning signs none the less throughout our lives that we can either recognize or not, respond to with wisdom or not.  Just like with some weird dreams that we might chalk up to spoiled food, we sometimes just don’t want to take the signs seriously.  To get back to the “at home” metaphor, sometimes we get so comfortable with our homes the longer we are there that we get used to things, put up with things, ignore things, and hope for the best.  But if we put off cleaning and maintenance long enough, we will find ourselves not at home like we once were, and our living conditions – the condition of our lives – barely livable.  Neb’s story offers a cautionary tale about heeding the warning signs.  Inherently, it offers hope as well, because Daniel’s encouragement meant that a course correction was possible for the king.  It is possible for us, too.  If you are not at home in your own body or life, the good news is that God is always on the side of our becoming whole, which is the fullest definition of the word salvation.  Free from the past – forgiven – and called to a new life.  Daniel would have applauded the Apostle Paul who wrote to a church that was tempted toward former ways of faith that leaned toward legalism instead of viewing life as a response to grace. Here are some words to that community (Gal. 6:1-10 NLT):

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believe] is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.

7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

This Jewish folktale has a lot to offer, doesn’t it?  Hope when you’re feeling oppressed, with encouragement to be faithful as a subtle means of standing against the oppressor.  Hope for how to speak truth to power – and to everyone else.  Encouragement to speak with grace even to our enemies.  And hope for when we begin to recognize the signs that our homes – our lives – need attention.  The hope is that the signs mean we have a window of opportunity to change our course.  We may need to go through some tough seasons to come to our senses – but that doesn’t mean health must allude us.  It might not always end how we want, but in choosing to be faithful, we maintain who we want to be.  Even if the circumstances won’t allow for more hospitable conditions, at least we will be at home with our whole, healthy selves.  In many cases, that is enough.