Watch, Listen, And Learn - Daniel

“Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.”

Daniel 4:30

Study after study indicates that people learn through various kinds of observation. One study presented a remarkably detailed breakdown of how much we learn through our different senses:

• One percent of what we know comes through taste; 1.5 percent through smell; 1.5 percent through touch; 3.5 percent through smell; 11 percent through hearing; and 83 percent through sight.

Nebuchadnezzar, the prideful king of Babylon, failed to learn from what he observed through his eyes, so he had to learn his lesson the hard way, through taste and smell.

Nebuchadnezzar had a frightening dream that he asked the prophet Daniel to interpret. Daniel told him the dream meant that the king’s pride would result in a severe bout of divine discipline. He told the king that he could avoid the chastening if he would humble himself before the God of heaven. Daniel begged the king to give up his pride so that God could relent.

The king thanked Daniel for his help, but what he heard didn’t translate into a changed heart or life. That happened only after Nebuchadnezzar took some hard blows from God’s hand.

A full year after seeing and hearing of God’s greatness—and even paying lip service to God—Nebuchadnezzar proudly looked out at the great city of Babylon and sang his own praises. God had given Nebuchadnezzar an opportunity to humble himself the easy way, but he refused. Now God would teach him the hard way.

God immediately announced that Nebuchadnezzar would lose his kingdom and be sent out to live like a wild animal. He spent some time smelling and tasting the grass until he humbled himself and listened to the word of the Lord. Were Nebuchadnezzar alive today, he might give anyone who cared to listen this simple advice: Watch, listen, and learn!

Are you willing to watch, listen, and learn when God instructs you? Are you teachable? When God speaks to you, take it to heart.