Daniel 5

This chapter has quite a few things in it for us to learn from, but I want to focus on one specific thing about King Belshazzar. First of all, if you didn’t notice, King Belshazzar is the son of the king from the last few chapters – King Nebuchadnezzar. Also he has a name very similar to our hero Daniel – Belteshazzar. So to simplify things I will always call Daniel . . . Daniel.

This chapter begins with a switch. We have been discussing King Nebuchadnezzar’s struggles with learning about and trusting God, but now all of a sudden he is out of the picture and we are focusing on his son. King Belshazzar seems to have the same struggles as his father – he is very proud of his kingdom and wants all of the glory and honor associated with being a king. The only problem is that God wants the same from him and he doesn’t seem to even know who God is. The ironic thing is King Belshazzar lived with his father – and got to see and experience the things his father went through first hand, but yet for some reason he acts as though he never knew any of it ever happened. As a result King Belshazzar comes to a terrible fate.

While the king focused on himself and living a life of selfishness, the Lord seeks out King Belshazzar to give him a chance to make amends to his life. He had the chance to learn from his father’s mistakes, and chooses to disregard them. He also then chooses to disregard the Lords warning through the message written on the wall. We know that we should not disregard God and His warnings. This is pretty straight forward, so I want us to reflect on learning from the mistakes of others. All throughout our lives we are surrounded by people that have experienced life and every experience can lead us to learn about the good and bad of decisions made. Some things we just have to live through and experience for ourselves to learn from them, but other times we can look to others and their wisdom and learn from them.

The Lord may not always write us warning messages on the walls in our living room, but He does always give us wise people to seek advice from and to learn from their experiences. He also gives us the chance to see the consequences of bad decisions of people around us, so we can stay away from those situations that will put us in a pit. King Belshazzar chose to not learn from his fathers mistakes and paid for it. Be sure you take the time to learn from those who you can look up to.

--Seth Gordon, Recreation Director