At
that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the
lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the
disembodied hand writing away, he went white as a ghost, scared out of his
wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked.
Have you ever used that phrase: “The handwriting
is on the wall” to mean that something bad is about to happen, that is, imminent doom or misfortune?
Well, this story in Jewish history is where that phrase originates.
Belshazzar and his
guests were partying, feasting and praising their idols when the handwriting on
the wall began. I imagine if we were there we would have heard a gasp from the
crowd, and then a hush. Silence. What was happening? This was not a common occurrence
and they must have all been just scared stiff. Then there was the sound of the
king’s knees knocking together. The king wasn’t mad—his face was not red, it
was white with fear.
The feast was over.
Have you ever had a dinner party end so abruptly? I haven’t. Most people like
to linger—but then we’ve never actually seen the “handwriting on the wall”.
Spiritually we can only hope that we never experience what Belshazzar and his
guests saw. There was no spiritual feast that evening…or ever again for
Belshazzar. Can you hope for a spiritual feast? If you rely on Christ and His
word for guidance, strength, peace and love, you will have a spiritual feast—one
that will give you hope for the future.
Dear
Jesus, grant us hope for a future with You—and give us courage to face whatever
may come our way—even handwriting on the wall.
© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
Scripture from The Message, except where noted.
No comments:
Post a Comment