The Writing on the Wall!

As I read my Bible yesterday, I found myself in the book of Daniel. I don’t normally read Old Testament scriptures for encouragement because for me the Old Testament is more of a historical resource to understand the New Testament; however, I opened up my Bible and decided to read Daniel 5. As I finished reading the entire chapter, God spoke encouragement to me, and I just had to share it with you today!

It had been a while since I had actually read this chapter in which King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his nobles and called for the gold and silver goblets from the temple to be brought so that he, his nobles, his wives and his concubines could drink wine from them. In this chapter, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote an inscription on the wall, which could not be interpreted by King Belshazzar or any of his wise men.

I’d like to take a moment to point out the reason this inscription was written on the wall. Daniel 5:4 says, “While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.” (NLT) It was bad enough that they drank from the goblets that his father, King Nebuchadnezzar, had removed from the temple, but look where their loyalties landed as they drank from those goblets. They were praising gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone rather than the One true God of heaven who created those items.

God created us to fellowship with Him, to love Him, to honor Him. The important thing to note, as found in verses 18-21, is that while God had given all ruling authority and power to Belshazzar’s predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, God then brought down Nebuchadnezzar and stripped him of his glory when his heart and mind became puffed up with arrogance (v. 20). The message was inscribed on the wall as a result of the fact that Belshazzar knew all of this and yet he proudly defied the Lord (v. 22-23). The last portion of v. 23 states, “But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!” (NLT)

As I continued to read chapter 5 in Daniel, I got to the inscription and the interpretation that God gave to Daniel.

Daniel 5:25-31 (NLT) ²⁵“This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. ²⁶This is what these words mean:

   Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
 ²⁷Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
 ²⁸Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

 ²⁹Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

 ³⁰ That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.

 ³¹And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

As I read this portion of the scripture, I was taken back to verse 17 in which Daniel replied to the king, “Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means.” (NLT) Do you see that those items promised to Daniel by Belshazzar would mean prominence on the earth, but Daniel didn’t care about being great on this earth? All that mattered to Daniel was being obedient to God. Sure, he received an earthly reward when he finished giving the interpretation, but that was not the reason Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall.

My prayer for you today is that you will hear the message written on the wall! God has given you the choice to make today. Where will your loyalties land? Ask yourself that every morning, and as your loyalty lands with God and God alone, please know that my prayer for you is that you will dwell in Christ! As a matter of fact, my prayer for you is that of Paul’s prayer for the church at Ephesus found in Ephesians 3:14-21. As you read these verses, go in the power and strength of God our Father!

 ¹⁴When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

 ²⁰Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

In His Grace!