Tremble … the One who strikes true fear, also drives it away

Fingers, Fears, Faith

This king thought he was above everything. Thought nothing could touch him. But words on a wall make his knees knock.

Judgment comes to us all.

Daniel 5

1. FEAST & FOOLISHNESS

Belshazzar threw the party of the year. A thousand lords, wives, concubines, and quite a kegger. Was it a feeling of being secure inside walls 40 feet high, 25 feet deep? Was it celebrating his dad’s death, thus making him the number 1 man … however short lived it would be? Was it just showing off? Who knows. But he also mocked the Lord, pulling the vessels captured from Jerusalem’s Temple from the vault … and he mocked God. Getting drunk using the very vessels set aside fo worship.

((Rabbit trail … could we also see that we are the vessels of God, being that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And when we mock, insult, gossip about, ridicule, hurt others in the family of God, we are just as guilty as Belsahazzar for mishandling the vessels of the Lord? … scary, makes me tremble.))

2.FINGERS & FEARS

Then a supernatural event took place. A hand appeared and wrote on the wall … words that made the king tremble, turn pale, knees knock, and trouble his very soul.

There is no accomplishment great enough, title special enough, no wall high enough to help you escape the judgment of God.

And today, when we honor things of the wold, when we think we are safe, protected, and special because of our worldly possessions and accomplishments, we are foolish. In a moment, in the time of a heartbeat, all could be taken.

3.FALLING SHORT

Daniel interpreted the original writing on the wall … Belshazzar’s days have been numbered, his ways have been weighed and found wanting, and this very night, the nation will be given into the hands of the Medes/Persians.

Now get this … our ways fall short … we struggle, face storms, have failures, and face great fears. And that’s just from life here. When we ponder eternity, there is nothing that we can do to measure up, earn heaven, deserve heaven, or even get our foot in the door. And facing eternity like that … well, that makes me tremble.

4. A FAITH WELL PLACED

There is a way, there is hope, there is acceptance, protection, and love. It is found in one place – Jesus. Stop trusting and honoring things of this world, and honor the one who deserves it. The one who holds our very breath in the palm of His hand!

And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored … Daniel 5.23b

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME?

There is no wall high enough, no accomplishment great enough, no title special enough – to escape the judgment of God.

… BUT there is a way, and only one way – through Jesus.

The One who strikes fear also drives fear away.

What does your life honor … things, yourself, or the God who makes the mountain tremble, who calms the storms, who heals the sick, who raises the dead, who created all and holds all together, who loved us so much … He took our judgement on the cross and made a way?

TREMBLE

Peace, bringing it to peace ….The storm surrounding me

Let it break at Your name

Still, call the sea to still …. The rage in me to still

Every wave at Your name

Breathe, then call these bones to live …

Call these lungs to sing

Once again, I will praise

Jesus, Jesus – You make the darkness tremble
Jesus, Jesus – You silence fear

Jesus, Jesus – You make the darkness tremble

Jesus, Jesus

Your name is a light that shadows can’t deny

Your name cannot be overcome

Your name is alive forever lifted high

Your name cannot be overcome

……………
– Lyrics by A Figueroa, C Bentley, M McManus, M Fields (Mosaic)

Note: if this sounds more like a sermon, it is because it was … my notes from 3.3.19.