When God Crashes the Party
March 18 & 19, 2017
Stand Against the Tide: Daniel 5
When I was preparing for a missions trip to Thailand a couple years ago, I sought to learn as many of their customs as I could. I wanted to build bridges, and not blow them up by causing unnecessary offence. Among many other things, I was told that it is very impolite to point. Thais gesture with the whole hand and never with just the index finger. At the time I wondered if it is polite to point in any culture. People generally don’t like having others point at them. We especially resent anyone pointing out our weaknesses and mistakes. Can you imagine someone coming into your house, crashing your party and pointing out what a loser you are! What an outrage! Who would be so bold, so outrageous and obnoxious?
This weekend we will read an episode in Daniel 5 in which the hand of God pointed. He blew the whistle on an evil king’s reckless defiance. Just to be sure they got the message, his accusing finger left handwriting on the wall. As we study the text, we’ll learn what the message says to each of us.