Weighed
in the Balances
This week has been a see-saw, up and down experience in the stock markets—worldwide. As I write this, the DOW has lost over 400 points, hovering at the 16,000 range. Yesterday it was up...around 200 points. Tomorrow?
I was
reminded of the story in the book of Daniel, chapter
5, where king Belshazzar and his entourage of
princes, wives, and concubines were feasting and having a
grand party before a thousand of his lords , and drinking
wine out of golden and silver vessels taken from the
temple at Jerusalem. They rejoiced over their
wealth, power and splendor, praising the gods of gold,
silver, and every beautiful item, even those made of wood
and stone.
The story
continues: suddenly, “In the same hour came
forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against
the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the
king’s palace, and the king saw the part of the hand
that wrote. Then the king’s countenance was
changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the
joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one
against another.”
What was
written that the king saw? “MENE, MENE,
TEKEL, UPSHARIN”.
His
queen saw what was happening to her husband as he cried
for the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers to
give him the interpretation. But none could give an
answer. She then reminded him of Daniel, who had
given his father Nebuchadnezzar an interpretation of
his dream. Perhaps he might could also show the meaning of
“MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPSHARIN”.
So Daniel was called for.
I can
imagine the chagrin and absolute astonishment among those
thousand nobels, wise men and all the guests at that
banquet when the Jewish captive Daniel
“called it like it is.” He first rejected any
rewards from the king, and then began an astonishing
discourse no one there wanted to hear. He reminded
Belshazzar of what happened to his father, Nebuchadnezzar
who was given by God a kingdom, a majesty, and glory and
honor, that all nations trembled and feared before
him. But when his father’s heart was lifted up and
his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly
throne and his glory from him. And he was driven
from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts,
and his dwellling was with the wild asses: they fed him
with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of
heaven, till he KNEW that the most high
God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth
over it whomsoever he will. Daniel
continued: “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not
humbled thine heart, though thou KNEWEST all
this; but has lifted up thyself against the Lord of
heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house
before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy
concubines, have drunk wine in them, and thou hast
praised the gods of silver; and gold, of brass, iron,
wine, and stone...(Daniel 5:18-23). This is the
interpretation of the thing: God hath numbered thy
kingdom and finished it. Thou are weighed in the
balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided,
and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5).
That very
night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, and
Darius the Median took the kingdom..” (v30-31)
There are
two balance scales before us. If we are
wise, we will see this same spiritual message before us
today. Two choices are before us, one for every
individual, and one for every nation.
Stock
markets speak of money to be made or lost. One
must remember that the LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL
EVIL. Belshazzar’s grand party was a gloating
revelry over possessions and power. He had forgotten
the lesson his father experienced. His mind was far
from God. “The wicked
shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations THAT FORGET GOD”. (Psalm 9:17) Most of America has not
only forgotten God, it has sought out, and delibertly
found excuse to remove any mention of Him in our
schools, our prayers, our government.
The
opposite scale contains people who have NOT FORGOTTEN
these words from the Bible: “Blessed is the nation whose God is
the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen
for his own inheritance”. (Psalm 33:12)
+++++
I
can’t help but be reminded of the 3 powerful dreams I had
posted to you this past week:
This last
Monday was the 11th day of the first month, (1/11).
It appears to me that powerful events were set in motion
on that day, and that both nations and individuals, are
being now being weighed in God’s balance scales.
Not a time
to be found weighed in the balances and found
wanting...nor to be a people described in Jesus’ prophecy
of Noah’s flood.
MARY E
ADAMS
