The Writing on the Wall

This past week, I studied Daniel Chapter 5. Once again, I was in awe at God's impeccable timing with this lesson in my life. I liked it so much that I wanted to write about it: 1) for my own teaching (since writing & doing helps us memorize & study) and 2) so that you could benefit from God's holy word (after all, as Beth Moore says "all Scripture is FOR you even if it's not all ABOUT you"). Here is Daniel 5, to give you a background of what I'm talking about:

Daniel 5
The Writing on the Wall
1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father [or ancestor/predecessor] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
7 The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers and diviners to be brought and said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."
8 Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. 9 So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

10 The queen, [or queen mother/grandmother] hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. "O king, live forever!" she said. "Don't be alarmed! Don't look so pale! 11 There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king, I say—appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. 12 This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means."
13 So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, "Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. 15 The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. 16 Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

17 Then Daniel answered the king, "You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.
18 "O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. 19 Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. 20 But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. 21 He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes.
22 "But you his son, [or descendant] O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. 24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

25 "This is the inscription that was written:
Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin
26 "This is what these words mean:
Mene : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

29 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.
30 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.

The Unholy Use of Holy Vessels
If you read Daniel 5:1-6, Belshazzar made the grievous mistake of treating the holy as unholy. These gold goblets from the temple had been annointed (Leviticus 8:10-11) and consecrated (2 Chronicles 7:16) for God. They were declared holy and reserved exclusively for Him. God doesn't take lightly when His holy vessels are used for toasting unholy purposes.

We, too, are holy vessels in the house of the Lord!

2 Timothy 2:20-21 "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."

Ephesians 1:4 says we were called to be "holy & blameless." In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, it says that we've been "annointed by God" who set "His seal of ownership on us" and "put His Spirit in our hearts." According to Beth Moore who looked up the meaning of these words in their original translation, we are "holy, sacred, separated from ordinary or common usage and devoted to God. Something holy is that which has been brought into relationship with God...and designated by Him as having a sacred purpose or special significance...marked as holy, classified as belonging to God...sacred, hallowed, consecrated." While Satan has no greater pleasure than attempting to desecrate what God consecrates, God does not overlook the unholy use of holy vessels. How many ways do we treat our holy vessels as unholy? How many times have we toasted an unholy purpose with our holy vessels? YIKES!

However, I also loved at the end of the video session where Beth Moore notes that "Vessels that have been treated as unholy can be treated as holy again" and quoted the scriptures in Ezra 1:2,7-8, 8:28-29 as the articles from the Lord's temple are returned to His holy house for His holy use. We don't have to live in guilt or shame - we can be made new again in Christ!

WEIGHED & FOUND WANTING
For me, I've been struggling with the fruit of the Spirit "self-control." I've been trying to be healthier, and I feel like for every two steps forward I take, I end up taking three back. I've learned that I'm addicted to food. And while this may not be a sin in someone else's life (I'm in no place to judge as I'm still struggling!), I confess that I've found it to be a sin in my own. I've been studying God's word on what the Bible has to say, and I realize that I've treated my body (a holy vessel) as unholy by what I'm ingesting. I truly want to be prepared to do "any good work" as 2 Timothy says, and I want to have moderation in my life. While I'm not proud of this struggle, I know I'm not alone in this! Daniel 5:27 really struck me "Tekel: You've been weighed on the scales and found wanting." Yes, sadly, it's true. This is a struggle that only God can rescue me from...if (or I should say 'when') I'm thin & healthy someday, He will receive all the glory! After all "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." So, please pray for me, that I would be able to conquer this addiction and move into a healthier lifestyle!

I've Been Hosed!
I've been studying God's word on health since my Breaking Free Bible study, and God is so faithful to answer the cries of our heart! Yesterday, we knew that Pastor Matt was teaching at the Lord's House of prayer. So, we decided to go listen since we care about him & his family. His sermon closely related to the "unholy use of holy vessels." In fact, he started out by bringing in a garden hose. He said he received a picture of a hose, and then explained that the hose represents our character. He said while you're supposed to take your hose inside after using it, he doesn't. He leaves it outside (or in the world). If it's a good hose, it will withstand the elements, including the storms of life, the heat and the elements. If it's not a good hose, it will crack and leak and the flow will be disrupted. Our character is like that hose, and the water flow is the Spirit of God. If we are being used for God's holy purposes, we'll need to have good character so that when God tell us to push the trigger, we can soak the dry ground with Him. If we have character flaws, the flow gets disrupted. (After all, have we ever seen someone that says 'I love you, Jesus' but then acts completely different in different situations?)

If we allow God to work on those character flaws, he can fix the cracks in the line. Then, to my disbelief, he took out a knife and cut the perfectly good hose (I must be too cheap to think that he would do such a thing!). Then he put the nozzle back on, and it worked like new. I also recognized that this hose would now be shorter, or closer to the source (which is the Lord Himself). So, how do we know if our character is Godly? Are we demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit? He went into each one of the fruit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" and looked up the meanings to each word...are we doing things without complaining? Do we have moderation? Ugh! There were many that hit home to me, and I believe my hose looks more cracked than I would have imagined. But, thankfully I'm in a relationship with the source. And while I know that when the hose is cut, it probably hurts, the beauty of the work at the end makes it all worth it. May I be a hose for the Lord!