Read: Daniel 3:1-7 NLT – Nebuchadnezzar’s Gold Statue – King – Bible Gateway
“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 NLT
Pride can become a self-inflicting disease when we have an unduly high opinion of ourselves. Its symptoms are arrogance, egotistic, conceited, and other not so fine characteristics. Can there be good effects of pride as there is good and bad cholesterol, or good stress vs. verses bad stress? Well yes. You can take pride in a job well done, in graduating college with high honors, or passing the state boards in your vocational choice, and you can be prideful of the achievements your children earn throughout their lives. But in all these cases, let them not go to our heads.
King Nebuchadnezzar, in the book of Daniel, let his dream Daniel interpretated for him go to his head. In fact, he erected a statue with a gold head symbolizing himself. Daniel told him he represented the head of gold in the figure of the man he saw in his dream. We do not know how long after his dream Nebuchadnezzar had the statue built. We do know that the king told Daniel, “Truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings.” (Dan.2:47 nlt) But over time his sentiment towards God wore off. He would now order everyone in the Babylonian Empire to bow down and worship his golden statue. Nebuchadnezzar’s pride got to him. This was both a religious and political act to be obeyed. Failing to comply would result in immediate death.
Nebuchadnezzar’s actions caused by his pride seem over the top of anything we might be capable of. Actually, they aren’t. Receiving that promotion at work, or being noted as the head of the class, or ranking #1 in the pickle ball tournament, may not cause us to want to be worshiped, but if it goes to our head, we sure want people to notice. Take pride in a job well done and forget about the head of gold.
Word for the Soul 