Our previous post set the stage for the mess a certain king in the bible made of his life. King Nebuchadnezzar got into trouble with God because of his pride. That proud king got the elbow of God resisting him because of his pride. Fortunately for him, his story did not end in gloom and doom. God took an interest in him and turned his life from a mess into a message. Please note that until I heard this phrase from Andrew Wommack, I only knew of making lemonade from your lemon.
With your talents and strengths, you can sometimes turn the lemon in your life into lemonade. That means that when life hands you a problem, you can use your intelligence to turn it into something sweet like lemonade. But you require God to turn your life from a mess into a message. That is, unless God takes an interest in you, your life will likely remain a mess.
Before we go into how God turned the king’s life around, we want to learn how to catch God’s attention. After all, the point is not just to consider bible stories, wonderful as they are. Our agenda on Heaven Readiness is to obtain lessons from those stories that will help us to heaven. We want to be ready anytime the trumpet call sounds to summon all believers home to heaven. Now, we return to how you can get God to become interested in your life and your mess.
Getting God’s Attention
Some Pastors will tell you that you get God to notice you by praying louder than anyone else. Sadly, such pastors are thinking that God’s character is like ours, and that is just not true. For instance, if God were like some of us, he would have destroyed the world in anger. Besides, the bible says in Isaiah 59.1 that God is not deaf. So that cannot be how you get God to show an interest in you.
On the other hand, God promises to draw near to us if we draw near to him. How near to God are you? How often do you take the time to study the bible and thereby draw near to God? Your answer will determine whether or not God will turn your life from a mess into a message. And that is because God says we shall find Him if we search for Him with all our hearts, The bible is where you will discover God. So your failure to read the bible may be why life remains messy and problematic.
God is waiting for you to catch his attention so He will take your life from a mess into a message. Keep in mind that we are on this positive problem journey. On this journey, you learn to thank God for any bad news you receive. And that is because you know – not think – that God will move your story from a mess into a message. That is how great counselors are made; they have experienced pain and can therefore help you in your pain.
God Took Nebuchadnezzar from A Mess Into A Message
Trust me, I did not make that up. It is in the bible. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Unless God has comforted you by taking your life from a mess into a message, how can you comfort others?
We now return to the king we earlier referred to find out how God changed the proud king’s story. Take the time to read the full story in the 4th chapter of the book of Daniel. We only give a summary here. After seven years of being humiliated by God, the king lost all his pride. Note that you should not pray for God to humble you as I have heard some people doing. That is likely to lead to humiliation. Rather, pray that God will give you the grace to be humble.
This king had to suffer humiliation before he came to his senses. That was when, instead of looking at his achievements, he looked up, from where our help comes. That is according to Psalm 121. God not only restored his mind and body, but He also restored the king’s spirit.
Powerful Message
As a sign that God has moved his life from a mess into a message, King Nebuchadnezzar preached. It was a powerful message. He said “I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride, He is able to put down.”
All that remains for us to say is, wow! The proud king came to his senses, looked up to God and God gave him such a powerful message. He realized that God is powerful enough to put down all those who walk in pride. I pray that God will turn your mess into a message
Maranatha!
