Daniel Week Four, Day Four Read Daniel 5:1-12 When my wife and I got on vacation, we like to go to unique, local places to eat instead of the typically chain restaurants that are everywhere. The danger of that, though, is you can sometimes find a really bad place if you don’t know what you’re looking for. So, we always look at yelp or other similar websites to find cool, highly rated locally owned restaurants. These sites let us learn from other people’s visits both good and bad. We’ve eaten at some really neat places taking this approach, and we’ve probably avoided more than a few nasty meals as well. It’s good to learn from others who have experience instead of having to always figure things out on your own. After Nebuchadnezzar, there was a king named Belshazzar over Babylon. The Bible calls Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar’s father, but, in bible times, that could also mean descendant. But, it’s pretty obvious that Belshazzar was around for all that God had done in Nebuchadnezzar’s life because, as we will see later in the chapter, Daniel is still around. Even though Belshazzar knew the lessons that God had taught Nebuchadnezzar about all things coming from God, the king decided one day to party with items from God’s temple in Jerusalem they took after they had conquered the city. Belshazzar, his nobles, wives, and concubines all drank from golden goblets found in the temple. As they drank the wine, they were praising their false gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. As they were drinking from the goblets, a human hand…and only a hand…appeared and wrote words on the wall. The king was terrified. Like Nebuchadnezzar, he brought in all the magician and wise men of Babylon to try to decipher what the handwriting meant. And, like before, none of them could figure out what the writing mean. King Belshazzar was terrified. Finally, the queen went to Belshazzar and urges him to call upon Daniel like Nebuchadnezzar had. We’ll find out at the end of chapter five that Belshazzar’s downfall was not learning the lessons of those who went before him. He knew that Nebuchadnezzar had turned toward God after realizing that his kingdom and very life came from the hand of God. Instead of living his life in reverence and gratefulness to God, king Belshazzar does the exact opposite. The king mocked God and used the things of God for his own selfish purposes. We all have had examples of people who went before us. It’s important that we learn from the successes and failures of those around us. It can save us from years of heartbreak and frustration. Sometimes it’s hard for us to learn a lesson until we learn it for ourselves, but, take it from Belshazzar, it’s usually easier to learn and grow from someone else’s struggles instead of your own. REFLECT: If you had been in the room with the king when he suggested drinking from the goblets found in the temple, what would you have said? Why? How can that lesson apply to your own life? PRAY: Pray for the positive and negative examples you’ve had in your life. Thank God for both and ask God to help you continue to learn from others in your life. // TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS // Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:
- What was the best part of your day?
- What was the toughest part of your day?
- Where did you mess up today?
- Where did you see God today?
Recent Comments