Daily Devotion June 3

June 3: Daniel 5:18-21 KJV Key Verse: Daniel 5:20 20 But when his heart was lifted up , and his mind hardened in pride , he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: Devotion: When Daniel was called in to interpret the dreams the king was having he did not come in and bow down to every whim of the king but came to give a truthful account as God gave it to him. Many times in our lives we are looking for the easy way out or the best sounding result rather than the truth because we simply don’t like the truth. It is not our choice to make up the truth as we go along but ours to make choices from our free will – the truth does not change. It may be a difficult concept to accept, but God allows things into our lives because He actually does know what is best for us. Sometimes what comes our way may not be to our liking because we have gone in the wrong direction and God wants us to turn back to Him. Belshazzar had turned away from his father’s ways and was doing his own thing as he saw fit. Nebuchadnezzar had seen the difference between his bad choices and God’s truth and tried to do things right, but Belshazzar was still on his own track. God does not impose bad things on our lives per say but will allow us to make bad choices which in turn will invite bad things into our lives. He does this because He wants us to learn from the choices we make and does not want to treat us like slaves by making us do everything His way. Belshazzar had made the bad choices and was now faced with losing his kingdom because of those bad choices he had made. Bad choices do not only constitute evil things but also such things as turning away from God. We must acknowledge God as God and give His the respect, honour and glory due to Him as God or everything. Belshazzar was too busy counting his own worth and living in pride to think about God. That was his choice to walk away from God and God wanted to let him know it was a bad choice. Points to Ponder: Do you follow good advice? Do you ignore God’s good advice?