Disregard for God

Belshazzar was having a party. In the midst of the singing, dancing and drinking God makes an appearance. The king had made a serious mistake. Belshazzar, inebriated and in his drunkenness, had called for the  "…golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem" and "the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines drank in them." In total disregard for God and His righteousness, the King desecrated the things that were God’s.

In total defiance to God’s authority, Belshazzar and his party guests "took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone." Dan 5:3,4

God makes it clear to these partiers that He is real and alive on planet Earth.

A dismembered hand appears and scratches a message of warning  and judgment for the King on the wall:

“Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.” Daniel 5:27

What a buzz kill. The party was over.

King Belshazzar’s reaction to this event was intimidating and overwhelming, “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.” (Dan 5:6) I’ll let you decide exactly what that means….

The King's first response was to turn to the very gods that had provoked God’s warning. Calling for the practitioners of the false gods, and finding no answer from the folly of the soothsayers, the queen reminded him:

 “There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. (Dan 5:11) 

Like Belshazzar, many people choose to live a lifestyle that is void of God and His authority. They, like the King, will sooner or later experience a rude awakening. The scripture warns:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal 6:7)

To deny the existance of God does not remove the reality that you will be held accountable and judged according to your thoughts and actions in this life. Ignoring the righteousness of God will not mitigate the anger that God holds against the sinner.

God’s wrath is triggered by sin and will not be detoured by ignoring His word. When God warned Belshazzar by writing on the wall, it was a warning from God and instead of discounting the event or seeking godless council he called for a man of God.

Seeking truth from God’s word is the only way to you can effectively respond to God’s wrath. God’s word states, “…God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psa 7:11) To ignore God’s authority over your life is foolish and will lead to a life of failure.

To philosophically reason away the reality of God is to be a fool. God’s word makes this clear:

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”(Psa 14:1)

This verse exposes the reason people deny the existence of God. The Psalmist said people who deny the reality of God are “corrupt”. They have replaced God’s righteousness with sin and are involved with “abominable works.”

Are you denying God’s authority over your life? Are you living a lifestyle that God has identified as sin? To ignore or deny God’s word is foolish. Today can be a turning point in your life if you will accept God’s authority over your life.

Friend, God loves you and will accept you today if you will reject the “corrupt” and “abominable works” you are involved in and  look to Jesus for salvation.