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
Be still, and know that I am God! Psalm 46:10 NLT
You have heard someone say when they need information to make a decision, “I wish God would just write it on the wall.” Or, we say when we have made a decision that very obviously had finally become urgent, “Well, the writing was on the wall.”
These comments originate with the story of King Belshazzar in Daniel 5. He was a man who had no margins. He ate too much, drank too much, and partied too much. His decisions were all for himself. Surrounded by slaves and women to do his bidding and officials who were afraid of him, he had no limits. He pushed everything and everyone way past the edges. He had neither time nor desire to listen to or take notice of warnings, though there were plenty.
One night, amid a several days long, obnoxious in every conceivable way, celebration of excess, no edges, a human hand suddenly appeared high on the wall of the ballroom where everyone could see. The hand did not write another warning; it wrote a pronouncement. “Tonight, you are finished … everything you have is being taken from you. Even now they are coming.” He called for Daniel to help him, but King Belshazzar was way overdrawn in the bank of life. That very night he was killed. He never paid attention to God, though the knowledge of God was very available to him through Daniel and the many other Jews in Babylon.
Clearly, it is never wise to put yourself in a place where you need “writing on the wall.” That is the time when warnings are over. We learn what we truly need to know, we gain the wisdom for life, when we maintain the margin to be still before God. We can invest our lives in what really matters and lasts forever. Be wise. Slow your pace. Not everything needs to be rushed. Take time to pause and reflect. Create space in your schedule. Each week make pockets of time for your relational priorities with God and others. Make margins and then protect them. Leave financial margin too. Even a small amount of time in your schedule, of energy in your spirit, of room in your budget allows you to see opportunities and respond, involving yourself in God’s work. Pay attention and expect God’s gentle nudges to use your margin for a miracle. When you have time to breathe, you will feel the fresh wind of the Spirit and hear the whisper of invitation to step into something great.
- God, I do not want to miss another opportunity to live my life with impact and fulfillment. Help me pace my life so hearing Your voice and knowing You is the core rhythm of my life.