Chapter 5: Practice From The Heart

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On two separate and distinct occasions this week, I was reminded of the story of Belshazzar in Daniel chapter 5. Perhaps, more than any other

story in the Bible, this one illustrates why you need to pay attention to God. Why you need to practice truth and righteousness and why you need to avoid sin [as God has defined] in your life. Perfection? No. Practice? Yes!

The message came to me in such a way that I again simply “knew that God was speaking directly to me.” He was speaking to me in a way that related to how I should end this chapter. The message started coming last Sunday evening as I pondered whether or not to go up town and see a late night movie. As I looked over the listing I debated which movie to see. My

mind just needed a mental break and I have found that a good movie can be a great mental relaxation for me. I made some phone calls to find out what the movies were all about and after some consideration I decided to go see a movie entitled “A Knights Tale.”

I enjoyed the movie and was struck by some unusual language during the course of the movie. The movie was about a peasant who wanted to be a Knight jousting with lances against other Knights. He got the opening and

found himself competing against a very experienced “evil” Knight. During the first competition, the evil Knight won. The peasant said: “The next time … I will win.” In response came the curious words: “I have measured and weighed you and found you wanting.” The message was clear: “You don’t

stand a chance competing against me.” The evil Knight repeated the same message to the peasant a couple of times. At the end of the movie, the evil Knight lost and the message was then repeated back to him. The whole dialogue was very interesting to me but I did not know why.

The next day [Monday], I was listening to a Bible teacher who was studying Daniel chapter 5 and the message came again to me from God through this teacher. It was God’s response to Belshazzar. The essence of

the message was: “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.” [Daniel 5:27 NKJV] The Living Bible has a little more clarity.

“You have been weighed in God’s balances and have failed the test!” Daniel 5:27 Living Bible