Devotion - Thursday, April 18

I am reading from the book of Daniel these days.  Most of us know of Daniel in the Lion's Den, but little else about the book.  It is the book to which many of the images of The Revelation to St. John are parallels.  It is also the timing in Daniel which gave rise to millenniumism (better known among us as Rapture theology).

Daniel is able to discern God's will and to speak God's word.  He does this for King Nebuchadnezzar; he also assists in helping Belshazzar reading the "handwriting on the wall".  (Did you know that phrase is from the bible?  Read Daniel 5.)

Belshazzar's sin was to bring all the holy vessels from the storerooms and use them for a drunken party.  He and his guests then praise the gods of gold and silver and bronze and wood - with the very chalices designed to give honor to God.

We read this story and we wonder "How can they be so stupid as to worship 'gods of gold and silver'?"  We know that there are no "gods of gold."  The learning from this section of scripture is not to find ways to heap insults on the graves of those who have gone before; rather it is to assist us in recognizing our own false gods.

I will pray each day for "useful knowledge;" but I will not pretend that information and knowledge is supreme.

I will seek meaningful relationships; but I will not place pleasing those around me with doing that which is pleasing to God.

I watch my retirement fund carefully; but I pray that I will never seek financial advantage over doing the tasks God has set before me.

The handwriting is on the wall for all those who place in the role of "god" that which is incapable of bearing the weight.  I am not trying to say that God will strike them down this very day (which was Belshazzar's fate - which may actually be better than what happened to Nebuchadnezzar).  But the lives of such persons becomes unbalanced and out of sync with God.  Living such a life may be pleasing in the moment, but it lacks the depth and hope of a life linked to God's grace and goodness.

Are there false gods in your life?  How might you reduce their influence?