There’s a story about a maniacal leader who was once in power of the entire known world. He was braggadocious and outrageous and completely bi-polar. He was feared and hated, but too powerful to stop.
Pause the story–this sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
But this is actually ancient history, way back when Babylon ruled the world. The king’s name was Nebuchadnezzar, and he regularly put lives at risk while exalting himself as a god. So that he might not be forgotten, he stamped his name on some 15 million clay bricks that made up his kingdom. It took an immigrant named Daniel (a slave to Nebuchadnezzar) to boldly approach the king before history was altered. Daniel didn’t suggest he see a psychiatrist–rather he begged the king to humble himself before God:
“Be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”
Do you know how the story ends? Did the king, like Kanye, renounce his sins?
One year later, he was out walking on the roof of the palace, admiring the sights and boasting about his accomplishments to everyone who could hear, when a voice boomed from heaven. It said,
“This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals: you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
The story says that “immediately what had been said was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of the bird.”
Now who wouldn’t cheer for this–God humbling and humiliating the arrogant leader of the known world! About the only thing we like better than rooting for the underdog is watching Goliath fall. To me, the fascinating thing about this story isn’t the fact that Nebuchadnezzar went mad and wandered off to live like an animal in the wilderness. It isn’t the modern day equivalent, if you think I’m comparing the king to some current world leader. What intrigues me is how similar we are to that old king, admiring our own accomplishments. We shamelessly promote our own image and agenda. We’re addicted to the spotlight–the very American notion that anyone can become a ruler if they have the gumption. A dream and some hustle can buy a kingdom of internet followers. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”–yet we erect million dollar buildings, stamp our names on the bricks, and play church inside.
What worries me is how close we are to hearing a booming voice from heaven after we’ve had so many warnings. The last thing we want is a Daniel, some scrappy nobody, suggesting we renounce our selfish, proud ways to turn back to God.
I think it’s easy to look around and assume this is the affliction of a younger crowd. When we poke fun at millennials and the attitude of obsessive me-first thinking (self-promotion, self-care, becoming an influencer, etc.), we must understand how this came into fruition. We didn’t just happen to birth a generation of self-absorbed people. I don’t pretend I can pinpoint exactly when it all started, but I think we can trace our steps back to a moment when we entered darkness because we walked away from the light.
J. Vernon McGee called it spiritual apostasy, and said it is always closely followed by moral awfulness. No wonder we are losing the grip on reality.
We quite easily forget who put us in our privileged state. We walk on our palace roofs and pat ourselves on the back. We become god to ourselves, so when unwelcome voices start talking in our head, when we are tempted with the sweet aroma of pride and flesh, we can’t say no. How, then, can we teach our children ‘no’?
We have normalized and diagnosed such things as high-functioning anxiety and clinical depression. This is not to say chemical imbalance isn’t a real issue–our bodies and minds are intertwined and must be treated holistically–but the wholeness of man is also reliant on making sound choices. In court, a person charged for murder might be acquitted on the basis of insanity. I think, therefore I am…unless I’m not thinking clearly–in which case you can’t blame me because rules don’t apply. It’s the attitude that responsibility is negotiable. In our current society we have determined it is perfectly acceptable to be a person with a mental illness, yet we will kick and scream if anyone attaches stigma to our condition. Instead of asking God to break our chains and renew our minds, we hold tight to our labels to excuse our behavior. But can’t we see that pride and prosperity itself can lead to discontent, then paranoia and depression? We can choose self-advancement and suffer the consequences of the proud.
Nebuchadnezzar, with his power and prosperity at stake, didn’t want to be exposed. Pride led him to the brink of insanity and plunged him right into the pit. If we think all mental illness happens through none of our own doing, we are wrong. Like the king we have eliminated our boundaries and made ourselves vulnerable. We have become haughty, and it is costing us our souls.
Very clearly in his Word, God establishes boundaries. He tells us who He is (defining His boundaries) and He tells us who we are (defining ours):
You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. Psalm 119:4-6
Among other things, we are to guard our hearts, capture every thought and make it obedient, consider the needs of others. We aren’t to make promises we can’t fulfill or think of ourselves too highly. We are to love God, who is perfect, and love people, who aren’t.
Any confusion generally stems from our unfamiliarity with scripture. Unfortunately, the further we drift from his Word, the further we get away from His established mile posts that mark our path. We don’t realize how modern psychology is seducing us, asking us to forfeit boundaries and replace them with blame. We ought not be alarmed–after all, this is exactly the way the enemy works. It looks okay, easy to swallow and non-offensive. Humanism tells us we can reason out our hurts–we were damaged as children, it’s someone else’s fault. We make our own destiny; self-promotion is just good marketing. But it’s a dangerous tweaking of truth, a fork in the path that sets us in the wrong direction. It goes back to the garden with the serpent and Eve. “Did God really say….?” the evil one whispered, and Eve began to doubt God’s goodness.
Recently I’ve been convicted about my own tendencies to lean into modern psychology rather than God’s word. The enneagram trend, crazy popular in Christian circles, is a personality-typing tool used to “better understand” ourselves and other people. But it doesn’t offer hope for the slovenly to get up off the couch. It doesn’t reduce one’s obsessive tendencies. It doesn’t empower a worrier to release their burden. The writer of Ecclesiastes, the wisest man in the world, claimed that every worldly pursuit is meaningless. The enneagram might help us discover our hidden motivation to do or not do, act or not act–but it, on its own, cannot lead us in the way everlasting.
When he walked this earth, Jesus noted that the people were like sheep without a shepherd. His compassion for the masses of hurting, sick, demon-possessed, struggling people was apparent as he ministered. On the other hand, he scolded the religiously proud, those who like to justify themselves by their traditions and false piety. In front of everyone, he established the absolute equalizer–that all are utterly depraved apart from God. And then, in Love’s perfect example, He died, sinless on the cross, so we might know the Father. There wasn’t an ounce of pretentious talk or humanistic rationale in Him. Only love that looked down and had compassion.
After seven years in the wilderness living naked and animal-like, Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity was restored. The book of Daniel says the king praised God,
“His dominion is an eternal dominion;
His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven
And the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
Believe it or not, Nebuchadnezzar was welcomed back to his throne. It is written,
“At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”
Daniel 4
Nebuchadnezzar, a brutal, self-worshipping, arrogant ruler was ultimately given back everything he had lost! His pride led to madness, which God used to change him. Can you believe it–this maniac was loved and used by God! Even through his mental illness, God had a purpose for him.
Isn’t that just like Him, to work miracles with the maniacal, to deliver the depressed?
When I look back on my lowest, I really can’t get over how God restored my life to me. How He drew me back into His Word, seeking me out and filling my empty heart with hope.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
My cry came before him, into his ears…
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters
He brought me out into a spacious place;
He rescued me because he delighted in me.
Psalm 18:6,16,19
I have written on my own struggle with depression here and here. I recommend Boundaries, an excellent book by Cloud and Townsend, if you struggle internally with setting up boundaries regarding depression, obsessive thinking and relationships (and actually every aspect of taking control of your life).
