Learning the Hard Way

My Bible reading partner and I have been going through the book of Daniel, and we're at Daniel 5. After reading and listening to some of Chuck Swindoll's thoughts on this chapter, I am reminded of something a friend of mine said to me that i couldn't agree with, 覺得不以為然. she said, "I find it more meaningful if I learn something the hard way."

I remember clearly how I was telling her about my parents and how I (hopefully most of the time) heed their advice because for some reason they're pretty much right all the time. She looked at me and was nodding her head as if saying, "okay, i guess that works well for you, but not for me." And we don't just hear advice from parents, we hear it from other brothers and sisters in the Body. At such times, it's even harder to hear than the advice and exhortations of our own parents.

sure, learning something the hard way is effective in teaching you what you need to learn, but it also brings so much unnecessary baggage. I am reminded of the Israelites who lived 40 years in the desert. Learning the hard way meant that they would never get to see the Promise Land. And as I read Daniel 5, I am reminded that not heeding advice or not learning from the mistakes of others is not only something that disallows you from experience something great, but it is a mark of arrogance.

Israelites were hesitant to go in because they were fearful. They didn't believe in God's promise that this was it. In another way, Belshazzar knew of his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar's 7 years of turmoil (see Daniel 4). He knew of all the warnings that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar in dreams. I'm not sure if Belshazzar knew this, but the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians was recorded in both Jeremiah and Isaiah, YEARS before Babylon was ever established. Nevertheless, he was forewarned.

Yet in the midst of being attacked, he still held a banquet for 1,000 as if being under seige was nothing serious. He even fearlessly took vessels that were meant to worship YHWH and use it in his boisterous and shameless party. Talk about not giving any heed to anything he's seen since childhood. He's seen and heard of the Most High God's acts and deeds. He's seen how God did certain things to show of his omnipotent power. Yet he still acted as if the God Most High didn't exist, as if he was the "master of his own fate, the captain of his soul."

Not heeding advice is like saying,"Yea thanks for telling me, but I think I'll still do it my way because I know better and you have no clue what you're talking about. It is a possbility you're right, but I'll still do it my way thank you very much." There's so much arrogance in these words. We say and feel this stuff many times, and yet we're still deaf and blind to our own arrogance.

O Lord, open our eyes and ears. May we receive your Word with open hearts, may we heed your warnings, may we hear it as an act of love and not condemnation.