Sanity = Humility. Pride = Insanity. Arrogance = Ignorance.

Let me explain those three equations.

I preached about King Nebuchadnezzar this weekend. And I’ll resist the temptation to blog the entire sermon. But for a period of time, Nebuchadnezzar lives like a wild animal. And it’s no coincidence. Nebuchadnezzar was notoriously cruel and treated people like animals. God gave him a dose of his own medicine. Sometimes that’s what it takes. What we do to others has to happen to us in order for us to have a revelation.

William Blake, the English poet-painter, captured his animalistic state.

Prior to his humbling, his last recorded words are these: “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.”

Do you talk like that? My, my, my. Me, me, me. To say that Nebuchadnezzar had a huge ego is a huge understatement. In fact, we know the exact dimensions of his ego. His ego is 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That’s how big the statue was that he built to himself. And, of course, he commanded everyone to bow down and worship him.

But after his humbling, he strikes a different chord. He’s a different person. And it’s nothing short of miraculous. Nebuchadnezzar is least likely to get saved. But after his humbling he can’t sing God’s praises loud enough. I actually used his first recorded statement after his humbling for our benediction this weekend. I don’t think anyone would have ever guessed that a benediction would ever be conceived in His spirit, formed on his lips, and leave his mouth. But his first recorded words after his humbling are evidence that God had cut him down to size:

My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth.

Now to the three equations.

Here’s the first equation: Sanity = Humility. Anything less than absolute humility before God Almighty is insanity. Which leads to the second equation: Pride = Insanity. Any measure of pride in our hearts will be instantaneously turned into a feeling of naked foolishness when we stand before the Almighty! Our arrogance will be revealed for what it really is: ignorance. The more arrogant you are the more ignorant you are. And that leads to the third equation: Arrogance = Ignorance.

I read an interesting book a few years ago titled Saints and Madmen. The author, Russell Shorto, makes a fascinating distinction between mystics and psychotics. He said, “A mystic is humbled by his experience, a psychotic is inflated.” The psychological term is grandiosity. The psychotic becomes prideful. The mystic is humbled.

Here’s what it comes down to.

If you try to exalt yourself, God will find a way to humble you. If you try to humble yourself, God will find a way to exalt Himself in you. And He’s awfully good at both.