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"Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist." Isaiah 11:5
 

 

The Fear of God

 

Daniel 5:5–6

In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.

 

Man is plagued with many fears, some of them odd. Mysophobia is fear of dirt. Hydrophobia is fear of water. Nyctophobia is fear of darkness. Acrophobia is fear of high places. Xenophobia is fear of strangers. Claustrophobia is fear of confined places. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13. Unfortunately, many people who have learned to fear things that they probably shouldn't have never learned to fear God.

 

Belshazzar was one of those people. Whatever other fears he may have had, a fear of the God of Israel was not one of them. In the midst of a great feast, the king, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem to be put on display.

 
With utter disregard for the sacred nature of these utensils, and with no concern for God, Belshazzar profaned them by using them in his drunken revelry. It was not until a hand appeared and wrote on the palace wall of God's judgment that this arrogant king began to fear. But by then it was too late. His fate was sealed.

Many people today treat God flippantly. They use His name in vain. They trample His standards of righteousness underfoot. They flout their sin in His face. They treat God's people with disdain and contempt. Yet they show no fear. Only when it's too late for many of them will they realize what fools they've been.

Be assured that one day everyone will fear God. The best course of action is to bow before Him in fear as Savior now so you don't have to bow before Him in fear as Judge later. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

Fear God now and you won't have to fear God later.

 

Today's devotion taken from: Back to the Bible website

By Woodrow Kroll; 'Lessons on Living from Daniel'

 

 

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