Daniel 5 - 10.13.2023

Scripture - Pick one verse that stood out to you.

Daniel 5:25-31

“This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

“Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Observation - What about this verse stands out to you?

While these verses seem to apply very specifically to a once prince and consequent king of the Babylonians, a person in a position of power and influence the likes of which I have never had the opportunity to experience, I somehow felt the Lord was speaking to me personally this morning.

In my admittedly not so amazing memory I have never willingly profaned any artifacts that belonged to God the way king Belshazzar did. And yet this morning I felt as if God was warning me.

Application - How will you apply this to your life?

As a Christian I believe I had and have two lives - the old, before I knew Christ and the new, after I knew Christ. While the line between the ending of one and the beginning of another appears to be more blurry and more gray than not I feel the Lord urging me to not fall into the same trap as Belshazzar did. When my old life arrogantly cries out, ‘I should be ruling and reigning!’ my response will be ‘God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end old-life.’ When my old-life whispers that I should begin measuring my successes in this world, I will respond by letting it know that it has been weighed on the scales of God and been found wanting. And when my old-life shares its vision of the personal kingdom I have created, I will remind it that my new-life in Christ will divide it all away. For I live for one Kingdom now. With a new King in my heart. And this new Ruler in me is much greater than the one that was before.

Prayer - Write out a prayer.

Lord, my hope and my prayer this morning is that the posture of my spirit and my heart is corrected this morning. I have one King in my life. One King I choose to serve. One Teacher. One Master. One Lord. Help me to guard against my own pride. Teach me humility this morning Lord. Please help to realign my spirit and my soul that I may learn to be Your humble servant. Always and forever. In the name of Jesus, my King, my Savior do I pray. Amen.

-kenneth lee