“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.”
Daniel 5:5-6 (NIV)
King Belshazzar was an irreverent and haughty Babylonian king, with little regard for anyone but himself. Golden chalices were stolen from the Jerusalem Temple, which were once used for Jewish liturgical services, but the king used them to drink and carouse with his friends at dinner parties. One night, during one of his drunken dinner parties, a hand mysteriously appeared on the wall and started writing words, causing the dinner guests to freeze in fear.
Scripture doesn’t tell us whose hand was doing the writing on the wall, but the words on the wall were not written in an earthly language, so no one could interpret them, except one man.
The king quickly called for Daniel, who was known by many to be endowed with spiritual gifts of God. The Holy Spirit gave Daniel the interpretation, which was that the kingdom of Babylon (Iraq) would be taken from Belshazzar and given to the kingdom of the Medes (Iran). His prediction came to pass and that day was the end of Belshazzar’s reign.
That age old expression, “The writing is on the wall”, came from this bible story.
God may give people signs, writing on the wall, symbolically, either to warn or to encourage them, all depending on the situation. I think we’ve all had moments where we saw the writing on the wall, whether we heeded it or not. We might be alerted to something about a damaging relationship or regarding a health concern, drawing attention to how we eat, drink, or exercise.
The writing on our wall could simply be a call to transform some aspect of our physical or spiritual lives for the better. God gives us signs, along the way, at crucial moments, to turn our attention, more in His direction, and less in our own.
We also have moments when we ask God for a sign when facing a difficult decision. We ask for signs in how to manage caring for our sick loved one. We ask for signs as we discern a partner for marriage, or in career choices. We may ask for signs when looking for a specialist to consult for a new medical diagnosis. Some people seek a sign to confirm whether God is really calling them into full time ministry.
I heard a testimony of a young man, named Jerry, who was raised Baptist. He converted to Catholic, and had a Catholic girlfriend at the time, but he was struggling to discern if he was being called into priesthood. He didn’t tell anyone, but he prayed and asked God to give him a definite sign, if He was truly calling him to be a priest.
His mother, who was Baptist, but okay with her son’s Catholic conversion, had been searching for a birthday gift for him. Not knowing very much about the Catholic faith, she went to a Catholic gift shop to buy him a gift. There, she saw a beautiful golden cup, and decided to buy it for him.
When he opened the present, He was shocked to see what his mom bought him. He asked her if she knew what it was, and she calmly replied, “It’s a beautiful cup, so I thought you would like it.”
She had no idea that it was not an ordinary cup, but a chalice used only by priests in the consecration of the communion wine, during mass. As soon as he saw the chalice, he knew it was a sign from God, confirming his call to the priesthood.
Another true story is of a woman named Tanya, who grew up in a chaotic household, with an abusive stepfather and a mother on drugs. She followed the example of her parents, getting into fights with other girls, being expelled from school after school, and finally becoming a drug addict.
One day, as an adult, she got in a fight, which left the other woman in a hospital with serious injuries. Tanya was arrested, convicted and sentenced to jail time. Through a women’s prison ministry in jail, she was deeply touched by God’s love, for the first time in her life. She broke down and surrendered her life to Jesus, and was healed from her drug addiction. Three months later, while in jail, she was overwhelmed with remorse for the woman she had hurt, and began praying for her.
That woman fully recovered, but one day, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to serve time in the same jail, and ironically became her cell mate. Tanya saw it as a sign and an opportunity to make amends. She asked forgiveness, and they not only became cell mates, but good friends, attending prison ministry meetings and praying together. Tanya later led the bible studies among the women in her jail, and many came to her for guidance and prayer. She managed the time of her sentence for God’s glory, until she was freed. Now she shares her story of redemption and ministers to others in many facilities.
We pray for miracles, but sometimes God gives us the grace to manage the problem, right where we are, until our miracle happens. He writes on the walls of our hearts with signs that are meant to transform, warn, guide or encourage us in the faith.
Jesus is like a lighthouse who directs lost ships in the night. He shines His light through the chaos, sends signs, and gives clarity, and He does it all using ordinary people in our lives.
Since God never gives up on anyone, He wants us to never give up asking, seeking and knocking, until miracles happen.
Lord, thank you for loving us so faithfully, and for the times you wrote on our walls, placing your desires in our hearts, and lighting our path through the chaos, to help us keep following you. Amen
