July 2: GOD HOLDS YOUR BREATH IN HIS HAND

“And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.” Daniel 5:23

Daniel calmly makes it crystal clear where the responsibility lies: you…yourself. In choosing to despise—which means give little-to-no acknowledgement of—the Lord of heaven, Belshazzar put himself in the position of moving in opposition to—or up against—the Most High. The enemy of souls seized the opportunity to ‘up the stakes’ and increase the intensity of the rebellion by putting it into Belshazzar’s mind to command (v.2) that the sacred vessels from Jerusalem be brought to the party. In following through, Belshazzar actively highlights the sin of his grandfather while deliberately ignoring the miraculous transformation that was later wrought in him by the Spirit of God.

So we again meet that pronoun: they (remember what they did before - see 4:32).  The work of Satan is carried out, not only by his demons but by those people who speak his wishes—in this case Belshazzar—and also by those who do the speaker’s bidding—in this case his servants. Most of what Satan and his minions accomplish is done through tempting, convincing, or coercing people to veer away from God’s word and His will, made known in His word. The rest of Satan’s damage is done by exploiting ignorance, which is exactly why he works so hard to keep all of us away from our Bibles! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

The spread of sin, like a virus, was made manifest through all who joined in: [Belshazzar’s] lords, [his] wives, and [his] concubines. The fermented wine in the sacred vessels added another dimension of profanity—that is, making common something that is set apart for holy use. All this was accompanied by the praising of false gods that are really not gods at all. Every opportunity that had been given Belshazzar to know and obey the true God of the Universe had been squandered. And now the consequence of Belshazzar’s rebellion was upon him. The truth of Daniel’s statement is piercing: “… the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.”

The breath of life is the gift of God: And the LORD God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7) It is incumbent upon each of us to see our Creator in the light of that very reality: He is the Source of life and His design for life is a perfect one that covers all aspects of life. What a tragedy it is to have such knowledge available and reject it, elevating human ideas over God’s design for life.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him…” Revelation 14:6-7a