Pastor’s Corner: “The Writing’s on the Wall”
Daniel 5:5 (TLB) – 5 Suddenly, as they were drinking from these cups, they saw the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand. The king himself saw the fingers as they wrote.
You’ve heard the phrase, “The writing is on the wall,”? It means that what is about to happen is so obvious to everyone, as if what’s about to happen is literally written on a wall for everyone to see. It’s a clever phrase and like most phrases with deep meaning. This comes straight from a story in the book of Daniel in the Bible.
The story starts with King Belshazzar throwing a huge party and in his drunkenness, decides to bring in the gold and silver cups stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem – This is Big mistake #1. As he parties on, he and his guests praise the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – this is Big mistake #2. As if straight from an episode of the Twilight Zone, a floating human shaped hand appears and begins to write on the plaster of the wall these words, “mene, mene, tekel, parsin.” This is how the king responded: Daniel 5:6 (TLB) – 6 His face blanched with fear, and such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.
No one could understand what the words meant until Daniel (yes, the Daniel from Daniel and the lion’s den) came to interpret. Daniel 5:26-28 (NIV) – 26 “Here is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. 27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. 28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” King Belshazzar died that night and King Darius entered the city and began reigning.
Belshazzar’s main issue according to Daniel’s interpretation was his pride. As was the case with satan, pride was what led to their downfall. Pride can blind us to what is obvious and clear. I love this quote from Helen Keller: The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. This is a powerful truth, in that her greatest concern was having spiritual blindness more than her physical blindness. Spiritual blindness is most disruptive because it hinders us from seeing God accurately and seeing ourselves properly. Spiritual blindness makes us think our sinfulness is not that bad or that our goodness is better than it really is.
Pride causes Spiritual Blind Spots in our lives. Is it possible that you are missing the signs in your life? It could be conflict in a relationship. You’re just passing it off as the other person’s problem, but God wants to show you that you’re off track in some area of your life. It could be a temptation you’re battling against because you’re continually putting yourself in a bad situation. Maybe it’s chaos and confusion in your life. Both are signs you’re not well-connected to God. You’re trying to do life on your own terms. God’s trying to tell you through these warning signs: “Stop sinning! Come back to me!” If you’re heading down the wrong path, God loves you enough to give you a warning. Are you paying attention?
Let us ask the Lord to reveal our spiritual blind spots. Here are some common areas of spiritual blindness to pray about: pride, envy, anger, indulgence, lust, laziness, and greed. May the Lord keep opening our eyes! What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him. – 1 Corinthians 2:9
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton