Steve Massey- "God’s People in Exile: Weighed and Found Lacking" 3/08/2026

God calls the proud to humble themselves. What happens, though, when the proud refuse to be humbled? "... The God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not honored... you have been weighed on the scales and found lacking," Daniel 5:23,27 (LSB). Babylon's acting king, Belshazzar, ignored history, shut his eyes to God's revelation, and disregarded prophetic warnings. He partied and pretended importance while enemy armies camped around his capitol city. The handwriting on the wall of his extravagant banquet hall turned Belshazzar's proud revelry to reality: "That same night the Chaldean king was killed," Daniel 5:30. Belshazzar's end still warns us today: God's sovereign justice is at times swift and final. For God's people living in exile, the proud king's fall is an encouragement that no arrogant empire or ruler stands forever. God will bring down all the proud; some He humbles and restores. Others He humbles and judges with finality. God's people find their hope in the One whose life was weighed and found perfect, lacking in nothing. The perfect righteousness of Christ is our only safe harbor from the wrath that awaits all who are judged by their own merit. I hope you'll join us this Sunday as we turn to Daniel 5 and consider, "God's People in Exile: Weighed and Found Lacking." Prepare for Sunday: Read all of Daniel 5 and meditate on verses 22-30. Based on the text, how would you describe Belshazzar's feast? What is his tone in speaking to Daniel? Why does Daniel emphasize "even though you knew all this" in verse 22? What does the writing on the wall reveal about God's justice? On what scale are we tempted to "weigh" our