Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

WRITING ON THE WALL

August 11, 2009

"Writing on the wall"--the expression is one of pending doom, or something ominous ahead.

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal place. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened..."
-Daniel 5:5,6 TNIV

King Belshazzar of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar's son, like other kings, got too big for his britches. He holds a huge banquet in his honor and in the middle of the party a hand pops out of the wall and scribbles a message on the wall. Belshazzar could not interpret the words, but he had a sick feeling it was not, "God bless you!" He summoned Daniel who was quick to tell the king his concerns were well-founded--"The gig is up. Your reign, your life is over." And so it came to pass.

Not a very cheery story is it? It leads me to ask, "how big are my britches?" And I don't mean waist size, but how is my walk with Christ? It leads me to ask in prayer, "Lord, nurture a humble spirit in me, and don't let it come to pass that it's too late for me, that when I see the handwriting on the wall, not only do I not know what it means, but I'm too far gone. Grant me a tender, gracious and humble heart that seeks you first, that is on the lookout for your leadership in my life." Perhaps had Belshazzar prayed such prayers routinely, the handwriting on the wall never would have happened.

Joyfully,

Dale Patterson