Written on the Wall
Life in Exile: Part 4
Daniel 4-5
September 27, 2026
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They drank a lot of wine; and they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Right then the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the king’s palace wall in the light of the lamp. The king saw the hand that wrote.
~ Daniel 5:4-5
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By the time we get to chapters 4-5, Nebuchadnezzar has seen God at work on numerous occasions and, quite frankly, he’s found Daniel and his friends pretty useful to have around with this God on their side. The king is blessed by God’s presence, but at the end of the day, he’s still in control. He views the God of his servants as one who serves him as well.
God gives him one more dream, that he has become a great and strong tree, but his reign is not assured. The tree will be cut down. It seems to be a wakeup call, and the king praises God. But in chapter 5, his son Belshazzar falls back into the old ways, worshiping the gods of gold and silver and using the vessels of Israel’s God to worship his own gods just as his father had once done.
Immediately, a human finger appears and writes a visible warning on the wall. Some theologians have used the phrase, “finger of God” as a description for the Holy Spirit. It’s no longer a secret vision hidden in the king’s dreams, but a vision for all to see. Daniel interprets the writing, declaring that the king’s days have been numbered, that his deeds have been found wanting, and that his kingdom would be divided and distributed among the Persians. That very night, the king is killed.
We often wish that God’s will seemed more clear, as though it were literally written on the wall. But Belshazzar had completely ignored the lessons his father had learned. No matter how directly God’s will was revealed, he was determined to be in full control of his own life, not second to any god, especially the God of the people his kingdom had conquered.
Todd Agnew writes a song about this particular story that says:
You sent them dreams and visions and Daniel to figure them out. They’d listen for a moment and obey for an instant, and then they’d go their own way but I wouldn’t know about that.
In case you didn’t catch it, that last line is a bit of sarcasm. Who among us doesn’t know what it’s like to have had a clear sense of how God wants us to respond, and done our own thing anyway. In Luke 16:31, Jesus tells a parable in which Abraham warns that if people won’t listen to Moses or the prophets and they would not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead. These words are also prophetic, and perhaps even more applicable today than we might like to admit.
Weekly Practice: Read it Honestly
This week, notice one thing you already suspect is true but have been avoiding, a habit, a conversation, a decision, and let yourself actually look at it. You don’t have to fix it today. Just stop pretending you don’t see it.