Power, Courage, and Boldness

The fifth chapter of Daniel tells of a time when God got the attention of a blasphemous people in a dramatic way. I guess this is where the saying, "You can see the handwriting on the wall" came from. King Belshazzar held a party where immorality degraded into blasphemy. God had had enough.

The message on the wall was that the King's days were numbered, he did not measure up to God's expectations, and his kingdom would be smashed into unrecognizable pieces. God's judgment was immediate, complete, and decisive.

That's not a very pleasant message to have to deliver to a king! Daniel had once been in charge of those a Babylonian king would call to interpret dreams and mysteries. That probably ended twenty years earlier when Nebuchadnezzar died. Belshazzar either didn't know Daniel, couldn't remember Daniel, or just dismissed him from relevance.

Those two decades must have been difficult times for Daniel. It's one thing to be an exile in good standing with the king; it's another to be an exile without close ties to the king. But Daniel's courage and boldness before the arrogant and blasphemous Belshazzar indicates that he had remained true to God all those years. And close to him.

An intimate walk with the Lord empowers and encourages us to take a stand. A loosey-goosey walk with the Lord won't result in courage and boldness. (My Bible study group laughed at me when I called it that last night.) God wants to empower and encourage and embolden you. But that happens when you are walking with him. When you stray or just simply lag behind, the power and courage and boldness are absent.

I believe God wants us to be powerful, courageous, and bold witnesses. So you'll have to walk closely with him in order to be what he wants you to be. To get the greatest joy in this life - the greatest sense of fulfillment - be a maturing disciple of Jesus Christ. Here are a few simple things you can do to mature.

1. Read your Bible every day. At least a few verses, a paragraph, a story.
2. Pray each day. God is the only resource for what you need. And he'd like to hear from you. Praise him. Thank him.
3. Be with God's people. Go to church. Get in a Bible study group.
4. Serve others. When you help someone else you are acting a lot like Jesus.
5. Tell someone about your relationship with Christ. If it matters to you it will likely matter to them.

Side note: Historians tell us that the Babylonian Kingdom came to an end on October 12, 539 BC (on our calendars). We studied this chapter on October 12, 2011. Two thousand five hundred fifty years to the day after this happened. I am amazed at how God directs our study of scripture so that "coincidences" like this happen.