Deeper Reflection
Daniel began his interpretation of the inscription on the wall for Belshazzar by telling a story of his ancestor, Nebuchadnezzar – a particularly significant episode in his life (vv.18-21). Daniel began with history. History is valuable for living life. This value of history is seen in three dimensions: past, present and future. We can glean insights from the past through knowledge, understanding and reflection to form perspectives for living in the present and gain wisdom for living in the future. One very important history is our personal history: the story of our life journey. But do we see significance in our personal history? What gives the significance is God and when God writes our personal history.The significant episode in Nebuchadnezzar’s life that Daniel pointed Belshazzar to forms a paradigm for understanding our personal history in two dimensions. A journey that reveals who God is (vv.18-19): God revealed Himself to Nebuchadnezzar as “the Most High God” who “granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty” to kings of the earth (v.18). God reveals Himself in our life experiences, as He did to Nebuchadnezzar, which will result in us knowing God personally. And as we grow and mature in our theological journey, people can see God in our lives. A journey that reveals the ways of God (vv.20-21): For Nebuchadnezzar, it was how God humbled him in his pride. God works in our lives with different strokes for different folks. We are to “recognise” (v.21) the ways of God in our discipleship journey. But our discipleship motto must be “Have Thine own way, Lord”.