Writing on the Wall

I was too young to remember this story as it happened, but Dad told it to me more than once; always with a twinkle in his blue eyes and a grin on his face.

Learning to hold my pencil correctly, I had worked quite diligently placing meticulous scribbles on a piece of Red Chief tablet paper. After laboriously scribbling my way to the bottom of the paper, I surveyed it carefully, gave a little nod and handed it to Dad.

“Read this,” I said, anxiously awaiting what I would hear.

He paused as if thinking for a bit and then handed it back. “I think you should read it since you wrote it.”

Placing my hands on my hips, I looked up at him and with little patience I said, “YOU KNOW I CAN’T READ.”

As I grew older and enjoyed writing, I of course, became more adept at actually putting down words that made sense. (Thank you to my many English teachers.) But there’s another story written about a message that was unclear to those that it was intended for. This one was much more dramatic than mine and it’s not hard to imagine that it could have been a scene from the “Frankinstein” movie. But alas, it comes straight from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Why Frankinsteinish, you ask? Because this message was written with a disembodied hand. And believe me, it got King Belshazzar’s attention as well as the 1000 nobles in attendance to his great feast at the palace in Babylon. Daniel 5:6 tells us King Belshazzar turned pale with fear and the fear gripped him so tightly that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. These people had to have known that this was no natural occurrence. Whether they put it together that this was happening because they had brought out the sacred goblets the previous King had confiscated from the holy temple in Jerusalem to toast their idols, I’m not sure. What I do know is that this was a slap in God’s face and He was angry.

Even though the three words written on the wall by the disembodied hand – Mene, mene, tekel, parsin –were words these men knew, they had no idea how these words pertained to them. In English these words would mean: numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. Daniel was called to come, based on his reputation for the gift of interpretation. Daniel didn’t give the king what he wanted to hear, but he did give him the truth from God.

“God has numbered your days of your reign and has brought it to an end. You have been weighed on the balances and have failed the test. Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

There was no dillydallying on God’s part. That very night King Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.

I can’t help but think about how the greatest empire of the time came to ruin in less than an overnight. I also think of how history repeats itself time and time again; yet we so often fail to learn from it. Just as King Belshazzar’s next day was not guaranteed, neither is ours. Today, I’m sitting in front of my computer writing this blog; but tomorrow I may be sitting in heaven at the foot of my Savior. That’s fine with me; it’s right where I want to be. How about you?

Until next time – keep on readin’ and I’ll keep on writin’.

FYI – Ever wonder where the phrase “the writing on the wall came from”? Now you know.