This post is Day 24 in a series of studies about “Surprises”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

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Surprises – Day 24

The book of Daniel is full of surprises. The reluctant believer, King Nebuchadnezzar had died, and his son Belshazzar had become king in his place. It seems he had learned nothing from the mistakes of his father, which he was aware of, and he knew very little about Almighty God.

Daniel 5:5-6

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. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

The Thought

The book of Daniel is full of surprises. We have already looked at some on days 13, 14 & 15 of this study. The reluctant believer, King Nebuchadnezzar had died, and his son Belshazzar had become king in his place. It seems that he had learned nothing from his father’s mistakes, which he was aware of (Daniel 5:22), and he knew very little about Almighty God.

For this feast with his friends, King Belshazzar asked his servants to bring the temple treasures to use at his dinner table. He was obviously trying to show off his wealth. The treasures he had inherited were certainly worth a fortune. But he reckoned without the powerful God who had revealed Himself to His father. For God, using these valuables for a drunken orgy was the ultimate in blasphemy, so He moved! He performed another of the biggest surprises in the Bible.

He moved in such a way that everybody enjoying that feast had no doubt that something supernatural was taking place, and it didn’t look good. It was very scary! All eyes were either on the hand or on the king watching his reaction.

Action

Read Daniel 5 today and imagine how those guests felt at this feast. Physically it was a great occasion, and the articles on the table were magnificent, so much so that the guests praised the “gods” of natural materials! How sad!

Think about the fear in the room when the hand appeared. The confusion when nobody understood the words. The disappointment of all the enchanters and spiritual advisers to the king when they couldn’t solve his problem!

Pray for any who live in your area who are “enchanters” or “diviners”. Ask God to reveal Himself to those working for the enemy, whether they know it or not.

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