I've been reading through the book of Daniel as of lately and it has been wonderfully refreshing. To see God's faithfulness so crystal clear in the life of Daniel is an encouragement to myself that God never goes back on His promises and that God chooses to use regular, average people like me and you for His purposes and glory.
I'm currently in chapter 5 of Daniel - the chapter entitled "Belshazzar's feast". To someone reading the Bible just for fun (why one would be doing that, I'm not sure), this chapter can get a little freaky. I mean, there's nothing like fingers from a hand coming out of nowhere and start writing stuff on walls, right? The whole story in this chapter is that, once again, Daniel is summoned to come into this feast hosted by the king, Belshazzar (the son of Nebuchadnezzar) to interpret what the writing on the wall means. Belshazzar has essentially been partying the night away, worshipping his gods "of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone (vs. 4)". Then Daniel shows up and tells the king that the interpretation of the writing is that your days are numbered and a new king is about to step in and take your place. Sure enough, Belshazzar is slain that night and Darius the Mede takes over the kingdom.
What caught my eye the most from this chapter comes from verses 22-23. Daniel begins talking about how Nebuchadnezzar turned against God and wandered in the wilderness like a beast, yet God drew him back to Himself and he recognized that God is the "ruler of the realm over mankind (vs. 21)". Then Daniel begins to rebuke Belshazzar:
"Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but
you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of
His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have
been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze,
iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are
your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified."
You know what makes sin seem silly? The sins in our life we have made our gods cannot reply to us, hear us, see us, smell us, or anything. When we worship money, sex, friendships, jobs, cars, etc., etc. - it doesn't mean anything because we cannot talk to it or have a personal relationship with any of it. A relationship with Jesus Christ is just that - a RELATIONSHIP. It means we can talk to God, we can listen to God, and we can see what God is doing in the world around us. Too often I look like Belshazzar, coveting and worshipping what the world and Satan offers me. Too many times, I need someone like Daniel to come up to me and chew me out.
God sustains us. He gives us our life-breath all day, every day. He has opened up the possibility of having a relationship with Him - an eternal relationship! That's cool right there. What a wonderful God we serve, who we have been given the privilege of being able to talk to Him.
In Christ,
Kurt
