God will not be mocked (Daniel 4-6; John 18)

Back in 2008 there was a bus campaign in England organised by the atheist Richard Dawkins. His message was:

“There’s probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

He probably thought it was a bit of harmless fun, but he was only trotting along after King Belshazzar. This king desired to mock all those who believed in God, he would show them that he was more powerful than their make believe God. After all, they had ransacked Jerusalem and God hadn’t done anything about it, so now Belshazzar would prove there’s no God, and show people they could stop worrying and enjoy life. He took some of the sacred items from the temple and used them to praise his gods of precious metals (Daniel 5:2). He was in high spirits as he mocked the living God.

But he soon discovered there was something to worry about! A hand began writing in the wall and he was terrified. Daniel, one of God’s people, was called for, he would tell the king what the writing meant. But first he gives the king a little history lesson. He reminds the king that he should have remembered what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, and how he had set himself up against God, living as if there were no God, and how he had been brought low.

Daniel says to the king “the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honoured.” (Daniel 5:23). There certainly is a God, and He is sustaining your every breath, but you have lived as if there is no God. You live in His very presence, but you have totally ignored him, mocked him and live as if you are god. So God has a message for you “mene, mene, tekel, parsin.” It means that your days are numbered, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting, and your kingdom will be divided and given to another (v26-27). That’s exactly what happened, King Belshazzar was killed that night.

But, you may wonder, what about Richard Dawkins and the many others who mock God or who live in his very presence but ignore him. In fact it’s true of all of us, none of us have honoured God as we should. Far from not worrying about it, we should! But why hasn’t God wiped us all out? The apostle Peter answers this question in 2 Peter 3 – it’s because of God’s patience that He puts up with our living as if He doesn’t exist. But He calls us all to repent, to turn back to Him. And it’s only when you turn back to Him can you discover that you can stop worrying! You can stop worrying because you know the God who made you, loves you and sustains you. The God who has taken your sin on himself so that you don’t have to face the punishment you deserve. This God is not seeking to ruin your life, but to give you life.

There certainly is a God, but if you turn to the Lord Jesus you can stop worrying and start enjoying the life He has given you.