How Much Do You Weigh?
Ponder: Being weighed on God’s scale
Scripture: “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27 NKJV).
This is not a post-holiday diet scheme, though I could use one. As you make that New Year’s resolution to shed the excess pounds, consider your weight from a different angle.
Over 2500 years ago, God’s prophet, Daniel, told the wicked king Belshazzar, “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). That was the interpretation of words which had appeared miraculously on the king’s palace wall. Having just drunk a toast to his idols with holy vessels looted from God’s temple in Jerusalem, Belshazzar now stood with his knees knocking together as Daniel declared his doom!
The same God Whom Belshazzar had scorned would terminate his reign, giving his kingdom to his enemies. “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain” (Daniel 5:30). The Medo-Persian army captured the city of Babylon practically without firing a shot!
What if you were weighed in God’s balances today? Would you, like Belshazzar, be found wanting? Hannah, Samuel’s mother, accurately observed that “the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed” (1 Samuel 2:3). Perhaps Belshazzar thought his actions were impressive enough that he could afford to thumb his nose at the God of the Hebrews. But God weighed the king’s actions and was not favorably impressed! What about you? Revelation 20:12 says God will judge us according to our works. How much do you weigh?
“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits” (Proverbs 16:2). Belshazzar may have believed that he was doing just what a Babylonian king ought to do. He may have been confident that his idols were superior to the God of his captives. Whatever his opinion, it didn’t change the truth. When God weighed him, Belshazzar didn’t measure up.
It behooves every one of us to study God’s word to know what He requires of us. How much do you weigh?
Song: “Savior Teach Me Day By Day”
Prayer: Father, keep us aware that You weigh our actions. Help us, we pray, to behave in such a way as to meet with your approval, and please forgive us where we fail. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joe Slater (Justin, TX)