Having Tea With the Kings: Part Three

Darius & Cyrus

 

The book of Daniel closes with

his service to Darius and Cyrus --

kings from the invading army
 that defeated Belshazzar's Babylon.

During this final part of Daniel's life,
he hears news from his native homeland.

Jeremiah, a prophet who was not taken in
captivity to Babylon, was used of God

as His voice to the Jews remaining in Judah.
  Daniel learns of Jeremiah's prophecy regarding
 his and the other Jews' captivity in a pagan land. 

Jeremiah's prophecy reveals to these
 Jews that their captivity will last seventy years.

(Daniel 9:2)

Upon hearing this news, Daniel immediately

"set (his) face unto the Lord God."

Daniel 9:3.

He didn't run to his friends to tell them the news.

He didn't go tell King Darius what he had learned.

He didn't ask, "Why were we here so long?"

Imagine. 
At this point of his life, decades had passed.

He's just now realizing he would
 probably live to see the Jews' return to Jerusalem.

I wonder if Daniel was just
 then understanding,

the captivity was all part of
God's judgement

on the nation of Israel.

Regardless of what Daniel was thinking,

we know he immediately began

to talk with his Lord in prayer.

Doesn't that act of turning his face
toward God remind you of the young

Daniel in chapter 1 who had "purposed in his heart"

that he would obey God rather than

obey Nebuchadnezzar?

(Daniel 1:8)

I've truly been challenged by Daniel's example

to purpose in my heart to choose God's path

even when it's the difficult choice.

Thank you for listening and traveling with me
on this part of my journey!

It is my prayer that you and I both

continually set our faces

toward God.

For a printable companion worksheet

to the final chapters in Daniel,

click the following:

Part Three: Darius and Cyrus

 

If you missed the previous two devotionals

and their printable worksheet,

click on the following:

Part Two

Part One


Amy



Having Tea with the Kings: Part Two

Are you ready for tea?

This is Part Two of a ladies' tea and Bible Study

that I featured on a July 17th post.

The study focuses on Daniel and the Kings he served.

I thought I'd share some photographs

from the actual Bible Study

and tea at my church.

If you would like to print the

journal/worksheet for Part One, click

Having Tea with the Kings: Part One

After King Nebuchadnezzar passed,

Daniel served his grandson, Belshazzar.  

When Daniel 5 opens, Belshazzar is enjoying a large party complete with women, drinking and idol worship.  His guest list numbered about 1,000 and included his wives and his concubines.  At some point in the evening's festivities, Belshazzar decides to add some spice to the party by asking for the Jewish temple cups to be brought out from his grandfather's treasury. These were the vessels King Nebuchadnezzar seized from Jerusalem's temple when he conquered the city decades earlier.

Sharing a picture

To use the Jewish temple vessels for such a feast was an intentional slight to the Jewish race now residing in Babylon.  It seems that God had had enough. 

Fellowship

Daniel 5:5-9 records that a hand appeared in the king's palace and wrote on the plaster wall words that all at the feast could not understand.  Belshazzar fears greatly what the words could predict for his future.  He already knows that tension is building between his empire and the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians.

The Menu

When Belshazzar struggles to find an interpretation for the words on the wall, the queen comes to the rescue.  (I love it when God uses a woman!)  She wisely reminds Belshazzar of the now much older Daniel.  "Remember the man whom your grandfather put in charge of all of the soothsayers and magicians because of his wisdom.  Why don't you call for him to interpret the words!"

Teaching

Daniel, brought before Belshazzar, refuses the offer of gifts in exchange for the interpretation.  Daniel 5:18-23 gives us Daniel's interpretation.  Belshazzar, Daniel explains, knew of his grandfather's history.  He knew how God had humbled the proud Nebuchadnezzar until the old king acknowledged the one true God.  Daniel reprimands Belshazzar, "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all of this."  Daniel 5:22.

Belshazzar then receives the interpretation of the words written on the wall: 

MENE

His kingdom was to be defeated.

TEKEL

He was judged unworthy by God.

PERES

The kingdom would be given to the Medes and the Persians. 

Belshazzar's life ended that evening; 

King Darius the conquering Mede was now king.

Smiles . . . .

Sometimes, we believe we'll have an endless amount of tomorrows to take care of our relationship with God.  That's not always so.  Look at Belshazzar.  He received God's message from Daniel and later died that evening.  His time was up.  Verse 27 says he was "found wanting." He knew the witness of his grandfather, but had chosen a lifetime of idol worship instead.

Sometimes, we don't learn from our past either.  The old saying "history repeats itself" is true.  When Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom reached its pinnacle, Nebuchadnezzar honored himself as the cause.  (Daniel 4:30)  God struck him physically down for his continual rejection of God as the Supreme Being.  Once Nebuchadnezzar repented, God restored to him his throne.

Here was history's warning to Belshazzar.  Here was the warning he ignored.

(Wade Red Rose Tea figurines)

I love to find the stories of vintage items because I love looking back.  I want to know the china cup's maker, the tablecloth's design name, the crochet pattern's publication date.  I want to know the history.  Learning each item's history gives me knowledge and wisdom that I can use toward future purchases and future finds.

It should be the same in our spiritual life.  God has given us His Word to read for an example of how we should live today.  Just think of all the great spiritual examples that God gave us in the Bible:  King David, the Apostle Paul, and Mary, to name a few.  We can also learn what not to do from the examples of Jezebel, Jonah, and Judas. 

We truly can't afford to ignore the "writing on the wall" -- God's Word.  James 1:23-24 says that the man who doesn't obey God's Word is a man that ignores what he sees in the mirror.  He looks, but doesn't change anything about his appearance, despite the fact that his hair needs combed, his teeth need brushed, etc.

We don't have the promise of tomorrow to take care of our relationship with God. 

What is God's Word teaching you today? 

Let's listen, read, and learn.

Amy

"For if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." James 1:23-24

For a printable journal/worksheet, click

Daniel Study: Part Two

Tea with the Kings . . . Part One

Each summer, I open the doors of my glass fronted cabinets and gently bring out my teacups from storage.  Each cup and saucer gets a good hand-washing before its bundled up and taken with the others over to my church.

There, for one summer month each year, the ladies and I will have a special tea and Bible study.  When the ladies come into the Fellowship Hall, they love to choose the seat that has the cup they really want to use for the evening.  Each year we try new teas and recipes while we study God's Word. 

At the end of each study, the ladies bring their teacups into the church kitchen.  Usually one or two attendees will stay behind and perform twenty minute dish duty to handwash them all again.  Every once in a while, one of the ladies will say to me, "I'm so afraid that I'm going to drop my cup."

I try to assure the speaker that they are much more important to me than the teacup which can be easily replaced.  Over the five or six years that we've had these teas, not one cup has been chipped or broken.  I have so many memories of the different ladies, some who are no longer with us, who have used these teacups that I think we've gotten more than our fair share out of any one of them.

This year, we're studying the book of Daniel.  Daniel served some interesting Kings during his captivity in Babylon -- hence the name of the study "Tea with the Kings."   While I cannot share all that I'm teaching in the classes, I will pass on the handouts to you which lend themselves to personal devotions.

Daniel 1-4 Handout

Daniel was a very young man when taken out of his home environment to serve Nebuchadnezzar.  He was tested right away to break Jewish dietary law.  Daniel 1:8 says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat."

Daniel made a decision that he would obey God's law for the Jews of his day even though probably no one would have faulted him for obeying Nebuchadnezzar while in captivity.  He took a stand for something most of us would have considered trivial . . . not worth the risk. 

The rest of his life, he based on the spiritual foundation given to him by his family.  As far as we know, Daniel had no Scriptures with him while in Babylon.  Anything he knew of God's Word was something he had been taught as a child, yet we know from the whole book of Daniel that he continually chose to follow God through any trials he faced.  What a true spiritual heritage his parents had passed to him!

Have you recently been tested?

Most of us have.  Chances are, if you haven't already purposed in your heart to follow God's Word, you probably didn't respond well.  Let's learn from Daniel the importance of having already decided to follow God before the testing comes . . . .

Wishing you could join us for tea.

Amy