Lent day 10

 Daniel chapter 5

Belshazzar's feast.  The writing on the wall.     You can read it here.  https://biblehub.com/daniel/

A couple of things stood out for me from this passage apart from the blindingly obvious. One is that it is was a huge party (1,000 guests)  so many many people witnessed the writing on the wall. Secondly it was the queen ( probably queen mother according to the commentators) who brought Daniel into the king.  The king had evidently forgotten everything his father had learned - and this is a salutary lesson for those of us with kids.  However mightily the Lord moves in our lives and whatever the testimony we may have, our kids need to have their own experiences and testimony. They cant live on ours.  And they will forget about what God has done for us - especially when they get distracted by the party the world is throwing for them.

But....... thankfully there is always someone who can bring the children back to the Father.  So if you have a prodigal out there at the moment who isnt much interested in your testimony and doesnt have any God experiences of their own, there is still hope.  Daniel and co were still praying in the background ( and probably the foreground) during Belshazzar's reign.  And the queen still remembered the story of what God had done in her family history  and was in a position to bring this information to the king.  We must keep praying for the wanderers.  And the party-goers.  And the ones who are outright flouting the things of God.  The answers might be drastic, but they will come.

God wasnt best pleased with Belshazzar. I find it interesting that Nebuchadnezzar was cast down and afflicted, but Belshazzar died.  Why?  Daniel outlines the reasons which all start with Belshazzar taking and using vessels which he knew to be sacred to the Jews ( they were, after all, still kept in the temple in Babylon, so even after they had been looted they were considered important objects).  It would appear that for the first time these stolen temple artefacts were being used as common vessels in a drunken orgy.  Not even Nebuchadnezzar had been so blatant in his blasphemy.  Maybe God is particularly angered because at the same time as this feasting was going on in Belshazzar's house the city of Babylon was under siege by the Medes and Persians.   Presumably the ordinary people were suffering whilst the king was feasting away. 

Daniel is brought in - now an old man in his 80s.  Still working for the king. Still in exile.  Still praying. Still gifted to interpret God's words.  He refuses the rewards offered to him and says he will give an interpretation freely.  And he doesnt mince his words.  Despite the fact that once again he is called to bring a harsh message of judgement to someone who could easily have him killed, Daniel doesnt sugar coat it.  He tells it as it is. In a nutshell his words can be summed up as ;

You knew the truth, and you turned from it. Then you blasphemed the God of that truth. And then you turned and worshipped false gods.”

And then Daniel is given the reward he was offered at the start and seems to accept it.  I wonder why. Thats seems odd to me.

That very night Belshazzar is killed.  Apparently , according to historical documents (and there is a lot of documentation about Babylon)  the Medes and Persians who were besieging the city actually diverted the river Euphrates by damning it upstream so that they could enter the city on the dry riverbed  and capture it in one day without any battle being fought.  There is no record of  Belshazzar repenting or pleading with God to change His mind or acknowledging his deficiencies. God has weighed him in the balance and found him wanting. End of story. Dead. Just like that.  God can do that to people.  Eeeeeeek

It strikes me that the thing which drives God over the edge of compassion and mercy into judgements is when His holy vessels are taken and used for debauched and ungodly purposes.   We are now His vessels. We carry His Spirit.  We are more than vessels, we are temples.  When God's people give themselves over to drunkenness, sexual immorality, gluttony, wanton wastefulness and greed God is deeply deeply unhappy.   Dont think it isnt happening.  A recent conversation with my 3 young adult sons about pornography reveals that it is a massive battle among Christian young men.  HUGE. Here in Northern Ireland theres still quite a strong anti-drinking culture in church, but I suspect the church worldwide has probably got exactly the same proportion of alcoholics in it as the rest of society.  We are all guilty of spending way too much money on entirely unnecessary 'stuff '  and trashing the planet with our cars and clothes and habits.  God calls us to be holy as He is holy.  

Lent is traditionally a time for repentance and self-examination.   Today Im asking, am I a clean and holy vessel?   Am I a Spirit-filled temple?  Where can I do better, and where is God asking me to help those around me to do better too?