An Excellent Spirit

A pretty lonely guy decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion, he decided on a centipede, which came in a little white box to use for its house. He took the centipede home, found a good location for the box, and then decided he would start off by taking his new pet to a restaurant to have dinner. So he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Wendy’s with me to have dinner?" But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to Wendy’s with me?" But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask him one more time; this time putting his face up against the centipede’s house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Wendy’s with me to have dinner?" A little voice came out of the box from the centipede: "I heard you the first time! I’m putting on my shoes!!"

The Story of Daniel The story of Daniel in the lion’s den is an old favorite bible story and anyone who went to Sunday School as a child will recall it vividly.

History of Daniel

Nebuchadnezzar –King of Babylon besieged Jerusalem. He took gold & silver vessels from the tabernacle. He also took young men from the royal family and nobility to serve him in his palace. They were young men that were skilled, wise, know legible, and competent. One of those was Daniel. Some others were Hananiah, Mishael & Azariah. Oh, I see you don’t recognize those. That is because Nebuchadnezzar also took their names. He changed them to Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego. Oh yea. Those guys.

God gave Daniel the gift to interpret dreams and so he was quickly promoted through the ranks.

In chapter five of Daniel he gets promoted to the rank of President. There are only three Presidents who work directly under the king. The Presidents oversee over the 120 satraps (or Governors). But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here is how he became one of the three Presidents.

Read The Writing On The Wall You know the saying “Read the writing on the wall”? That saying came from Daniel chapter 5 when God writes on the wall to King Belshazzar during a great feast because He is angry with the king.

Remember the gold and silver vessels that King Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem’s tabernacle?

Well, Nebuchadnezzar dies and his son Belshazzar (let’s just call him rocket scientist) decides that during his feast to have the vessels brought out so his wives and concubines can drink from these vessels dedicated to God’s house.

Jim Croce wrote this song:

You don’t pull on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger. And you don’t mess around with Slim.

I say:

You don’t steal from God’s Holy Place. You don’t treat God’s stuff with distain. You don’t take what’s holy –use it like it nothin’. And you don’t mess around with God.

Okay. So God is angry with the rocket scientist and writes on the wall. One problem. Nobody can read what God wrote. So Belshazzar finally calls in Daniel and says if you can interpret the writing that he will make Daniel one of the three Presidents.

The writing is simply this: Mene. Mene. Tekel. Parsin.

Mene. Mene.: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.

Tekel.: (another saying that came from the Bible)

You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.

Parsin.: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

King Belshazzar is killed that very night. He is replaced by King Darius in 5:31

READ Daniel 6: 1-3

Darius and Daniel become great friends and soon Daniel becomes distinguished above all other Presidents and Governors because “An excellent spirit was in him”.

Remember that Daniel was taken from his family, home and people in Jerusalem. But he keeps a good spirit –no, an excellent spirit –and so makes the best of his situation and so prospers greatly.

There is a story of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "That’s a good thing!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns because when the king fired it his thumb was blown off.