Sovereign Grace

I am currently reading through Daniel and just finished the story of how king Nebuchadnezzar was humbled to the point of behaving like and living among the beasts of the field. It's a very bizarre story...and one of God's sovereign grace being displayed. Grace? He had to behave like a beast for "7 periods of time" - which most scholars believe means 7 years (according to my ESV study bible notes)! Doesn't exactly evoke feelings of grace at first. But the end result, was the king saying,

"At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,

for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”

At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me." Daniel 4:34-36

That's why we can call it grace, I think. It also reminded me of a story in Acts where another evil king did not get such a chance to repent:

"On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last." Acts 12:21-23

Nebuchadnezzar deserved the same fate as Herod got. It was only by God's free sovereign grace that he was spared. It's the same for all those who trust in Christ. We deserve the same fate as those who will perish in Hell forever and it is only by God's grace through Jesus that we are spared. Praise be to Him that even to this day, "whosoever will" can enter into that grace! "'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his."