Wall

What is that saying? “The writing is on the wall”. As mothers we often groan when we see writing on a wall. As it usually means that “Little Johnny” or “Missy” have found some pencils, crayons or textas and managed to create some artwork in the wrong place, meaning extra work to remove it and bring the wall back to its pristine condition. Then there is the graffiti that often sends a message, not always polite mind you, to the public as they walk the streets or ride the train. This artwork can often just say that people were bored, frustrated or destructive. Occasionally though there is what can only be described as street art and shows great talent.

Messages being written on the wall date back to ancient times when King Belshazzar sees a hand write a message on the wall of his palace. (Daniel 5:5-9) It frightened him and he had to ask Daniel to interpret it. Daniel tells King Belshazzar that “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it…Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting…Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:26-28) This is why when we say that the writing is on the wall we usually mean that we are predicting the demise of something.

It would be easy as we look at our society today to imagine that the “Writing is on the wall”. There is so much crime, broken promises by those in power, greed and all sorts of “sick” behaviour that one could despair of ever seeing the return of what we could consider a civilised society.

There is hope! Jesus came to earth, this we celebrate at Christmas time, grew up amongst us and showed us not only how to live but provided us with a way to be able to be better people through Him.