DEVOTIONAL
Daniel 5:1-6
5 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
6 Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
Well, Belshazzar was just having a grand ole time, wasn’t he? The king was enjoying his sinful, indulgent lifestyle, seemingly without a care in the world.
How sobering this event must have been to both host and guests! The king and his circle of elitists friends must have been astonished by what they saw! What WERE they witnessing? It wasn’t a vision, some David Copperfield type magic or even the product of the refreshments excessively poured into goblets belonging to the Temple of the Lord. This was a tremendous act of God.
It is so much easier to learn from mistakes of others than experience the pain of making them ourselves; yet far too often we are determined to go ahead and repeat history with our own version of bad decisions when faced with similar circumstances.
Most certainly Belshazzar grew up hearing the stories about Nebuchadnezzar’s disbelief, how that effected his life, and how he came to acknowledge the One True God. Why would Nebuchadnezzar’s own son hold that knowledge of the past and still engage in such destructive foolish behavior himself?
Watch, listen and learn. Perhaps we gleaned some wisdom from what our parents taught us. Maybe we avoided things here and there that we may have fallen into, had we not been forewarned. Our children, likewise, hopefully will take note and preventative measures, not to follow ill-considered paths we have taken.
If one generation would truly learn from the mistakes of the others, wisdom would truly abound. Stubbornness and pride, as long as those two bedfellows are joined together, there is little hope to escape ourselves and the messes we continually make!
So, is there hope? Of COURSE! “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”, as long as it is GOD’S WILL! A LITTLE omitted, but critical fact of the matter!
Yielding to God is paramount. There are many examples of good parents with ill-mannered children and vice-versa, horrible parents with wonderful children, sprinkled within the pages of Scripture. Some apples fell far from the tree and others jumped from the limbs before they were mature and ready.
As always, the Lord customizes His lessons for us. How? Scripture remains the same. So, exactly how did stories, parables and sermons teach the people way back then yet still hold true to us today? Because they do not alter! Truth is NOT FLUID! It does not swish from side to side, up and down, it stays consistent; unmovable, unchangeable!
When Jesus preached, there were people there who heard and whose lives were touched forever. His teachings ARE timeless. One of the concepts I simply cannot STAND is discussion on the “relevance” of God’s Word in today’s world! It has no less “relevance” for the present time as it did for those sitting on the mountain sides! It does not NEED assistance! If it is in the Word, it IS TRUTH, and that is a matter of FACT, not debate. Scripture is self-explanatory.
Who thinks the Lord was up in Heaven holding His breath, just WAITING for someone to accompany His Word with a commentary? He didn’t blow a huge sigh of relief that a publishing company finally put out SOMETHING to help His people better understand, since He was not able to translate meaning into the hearts of men on His own!
I am not knocking all commentaries, don’t get me wrong. Some reading this may use them as guidelines or even write them. I simply say that on Its own, the Word of God is self-sufficient! If anyone has trouble understanding, ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT to translate, instruct and pray to be teachable. Try to avoid going directly to another person or a published “resource” to gain “understanding”.
Okay, we have gone somewhat down a different track, but hopefully this train of thought will bring us back home to where we started. Let’s open our hearts and minds to the Truth of God’s Word, ask for AND FOLLOW His guidance, especially in how through His power, we might pull ourselves out of the historical curses.
If we walk in obedience to our God and Father, hopefully we will pass along a desire for His leadership to future generations. It can start with us, whether our heritage lacked godly men and women or was richly blessed by the guidance of faithful pioneers. Allow your life to be a living testimony to your faith, trust and hope in the One True God.
Accept that bad decisions may result in consequences, but remain thankfully forgiven for mistakes, as we are called to forgive those who have wronged us.
Also, forsake pride in making wise choices. Direct praise to the Lord for discernment and guidance into appropriate decisions.
The seeds of willingness grow beautifully into a garden of obedience; fragrant and pleasing to our God.
PRAYER
God Almighty
Thank You for those You have put into our lives
Regardless of how long in the past it may have been
Who served You
Who called You “LORD”
You Are our Father
And that is the inheritance we have been promised
There is nothing richer
Nothing better than to know we are Yours, O King
You have chosen us
You have adopted us
You call us by name!
We are called Your children
The Child of the Most High
Lord, when we start to repeat past habits
That are not honoring to You
Please call to mind where those decisions can lead us
Please take away urges to follow our desires into acts of disobedience
Almighty,
Please give us the desire to please You
Lord, please let our children, our grandchildren, anyone, who is headed into the same mistakes we have made, to listen to what we tell them
So they can avoid the pain we endured
Father God, please give us the right words to say
Precious Father, if they go ahead with harmful behavior anyway
Please let us be gracious and understanding
Let us realize that we either have already fallen into that pit
Or by Your grace, avoided that one
Let us be a support to, not judge of one another
Let us stand strong together in Christ
May we warn each other in love against wrongdoing
And encourage our brothers and sisters in obedience
In all things, let us give glory to our Lord and Savior
Through the blood of Jesus we pray
AMEN
songs
“Guard Your Heart”
“Forgiveness”
“Amazing Grace”
