November 28

Daniel 5:1-31; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 28:19-20 

It’s nice to see the Israelites aren’t the only ones who didn’t learn from their forefathers’ mistakes. Well, maybe it isn’t nice to see, but it might give us a little more grace for them when we read about Belshazzar’s account in Daniel 5. He was guilty of the same pride and arrogance that led to his forefather Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall. But instead of learning from the mistakes of his forefather, he repeated them.

In fact, in all of Scripture, we see people having the chance to either learn from the mistakes of others before them, thus averting the destruction of their lives, or to repeat the mistakes and thereby ensure their own downfall. Even in our reading in 2 Peter 2:1-2, we see talk of false prophets whom “many will follow” in “their shameful ways,” thus “bringing swift destruction on themselves.” You would think Belshazzar, the Israelites, and those early Christians from 2 Peter would have chosen better when they had the examples and evidence right in front of them, right?

Lest we be the pot calling the tea kettle black, we should examine our own lives in this regard as well. Many of us struggle to overcome the sins of our fathers. Maybe we fall into the same patterns of sin our parents had - big or small. We may even blame them for making us “turn out this way.”

Over the last several years, I have watched firsthand how the marriage of two people very close to me was destroyed. While watching them interact, I became acutely aware of my own interactions with my husband. How did I speak to him? How was my tone? Did I blame unfairly or speak unkindness into his life? I became so aware of the little ways that small things and words can contribute to the destruction of a marriage. I had a choice: learn from their mistakes or repeat them. Lord have mercy, I did NOT want to repeat them.

Four years ago today, a great tragedy occurred in my life. In the midst of my acute sadness, I was aware that I would have a choice ahead of me in this process of grief. I had seen people ahead of me go through tragedy in their lives. It seemed like it either made them more bitter and angry inside, or, quite the opposite, they became more at peace, with an inner joy greater than before. I wanted to be in the second category. Whom would I follow?

Who will you follow? Do you know godly people in your life? People you admire and look up to? I am pretty sure they didn’t get that way by having an easy life and having everything go just right for them all the time. They probably had to choose over and over again to follow after Jesus, not what their own pride and comfort was choosing for them, nor the negative patterns of others set before them.  I think back to our Hebrews reading and the cloud of witnesses and how we should run with them after Jesus.

Oh Lord, we pray that you would “give [us] discernment that [we] may understand your statutes…because [we] love your commands more than gold” (Ps. 119:125,127). Help us to learn from the mistakes of others and always walk according to your perfect ways.

- Mary Matthias

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