Welcome!
Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Today: What would God write about you?
Passage: Daniel 5: 16-17 NIV
16 Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” 17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means. (Emphasis added)
Daniel lived in Babylon during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar
One day, Belshazzar was having a big party and he and his nobles used the vessels that his father brought from the Jerusalem temple, to drink wine
While they were having the party, drinking from these vessels and praising the gods of the land, suddenly there appeared a writing on the wall; the king was terrified
It so happened that the queen was not there! Hearing the big frustration that was going on, she came to the banquet hall (Was she praying…?)
She told the king about Daniel who could possibly read the writing on the wall, when the Kings’ magicians failed to read and interpret it
So Daniel was brought, and the King offered him all that we read in verse 16
But Daniels’s reply was strange.
What Daniel wanted was that the King should understand who the living God is, and come in terms with Him; nothing more than that!
So, before explaining the meaning, Daniel gave a short, straight sermon
That was the last opportunity for the King to repent and escape the wrath of God!
But Belshazzar did not repent
Daniel then explained the meaning of the writing on the wall
It meant that God was going to end the reign of this King because he was weighed by God and found disqualified; so God was going to give the Kingdom to another King, of the Medes and Persians
God is in control, above all the Kings and the leaders
It doesn’t matter how great a nation is, in the eyes of the world
God decides who should sit on the chair and who should not
God weighs everybody on his scale
Man can project themselves in any way, and hide many sins
But God’s eyes are so sharp. No one can cheat God, like they cheat fellow human beings
Daniel was honored, but the unrepentant king was killed that very night
Honor for one, death for another!
There are many such people today, who want to honor men of God with gifts, but these people will never repent!
In Acts 3, we see an incident of Peter and John, soon after they received power from above
6Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3: 6, NIV)
Peter and John did not have silver or Gold, nor did they want any, but they had the power of God with them, to heal that crippled man
What do we have? What would we be saying, to such a man?
Today’s context, someone would have said: “Give all what you have, as an offering; then we will see”
Poor man will loose all he had, and get nothing but discouragement, in exchange
Do we have anything to give to those who are desperate for a touch of God?
May God help us!
BG
Prayer: Lord, I admit that I will not qualify, if you weigh me on your scale. So far, I have been comparing myself with others and looking good. Now, tell me how I weigh, on your scale. Amen