Daily Devotional
The Stone and Our Pride
Wisdom, kingdoms, arguments, and religious show are all weighed today, and only what is rooted in God stands. The queen of Sheba came with hard questions, and Solomon answered; yet a greater wisdom appears when Daniel stands before a trembling king and refuses vainglory. As Chrysostom says, “this Daniel coming forward, and preparing to solve the king's question, does not take the honor to himself, but first ascribes the whole to God, and says, But as for me, O king, it is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have beyond all men.” The servant of God does not seize praise, but returns it.
Bildad speaks with the cruelty of a man more eager to win than to be just. Such speech makes a beast of a man. It is possible to dispute about righteousness while departing from it in temper, contempt, and hardness. Therefore the apostle warns against being taken captive by mere human tradition, proud visions, and fleshly boasting. If we have died and risen with Christ, we must not live as slaves to shadows, nor as judges of our brethren in matters that puff up without healing the soul.
For the dream in Babylon and the cross at Golgotha declare one thing: earthly powers do not endure. “Then were the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver, (and) the gold broken, and became like the chaff from the summer threshing-floor; and the strength (fullness) of the wind carried them away, and there was no place found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Christ has already begun this victory, “who having put off from Himself the principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by His cross.” Therefore cling to the Head, walk humbly, and let your life be judged by obedience, not display.
“this Daniel coming forward, and preparing to solve the king's question, does not take the honor to himself, but first ascribes the whole to God, and says, But as for me, O king, it is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have beyond all men. Daniel 2:30”
— John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians
“Then were the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver, (and) the gold broken, and became like the chaff from the summer threshing-floor; and the strength (fullness) of the wind carried them away, and there was no place found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
— Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist
“who having put off from Himself the principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by His cross.”
— Origen, Commentary on John
For Reflection & Discussion
What praise, credit, or advantage can you deliberately return to God today instead of taking it for yourself in speech or conduct?
Whom have you spoken about with Bildad’s harshness, and what concrete confession or act of reconciliation must you make today?
What practice of empty display or merely human rule should you cast off this week, and what obedient work—prayer, fasting, almsgiving, or forgiveness—will you put in its place?
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