The Writings on the Wall

At our Wednesday night prayer and study time Sam Rodgers shared with our group a riveting story about the time he almost drowned in a Tennessee river.
The swimming hole was the perfect place to escape the Tennessee heat and the hours of fun with friends was free.
“Sam, see this place in the river? It looks shallow, clear, and the sandy floor looks like it would be soft on your feet.”
From the safety of the bank Sam’s rugged, powerfully built dad looked his son in the eye, “Whatever you do, son, don’t swim in that spot. The current will sweep you away and you could drown.”
“Yes, Sir!”
A part of Sam wanted to be a good boy, but often when swimming in the river near the spot, he found himself thinking, Looks pretty safe to me! It’s only a few inches deep! A foot at the most!
One day Sam crossed the line and got into the forbidden spot.
The current grabbed him, threw him down stream, and into some underbrush near the river’s edge. His neck braced itself against the current as the river wrestled to pull him under. His mouth was barely above the water and he was losing the battle.
“Help! Help” It was all he could get out as he went under.
Somehow his father skirted the dangerous current, got to his son, and grabbed those upraised hands crying for salvation. Sam was scared silly, but safe on the bank in his dad’s hug.
We all breathed a sigh of relief. Then Sam added, “The sad thing is that I just read about a young boy from my home town who drowned because of that same deceptive spot.”
Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. He should have learned that his grand dad’s pride and defiant idolatry against the true God and it cost him seven years of sanity. Instead, in Daniel 5 we enter a Babylonian party where the sacred goblets from the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem are being used to drown the fear of the Babylonians and to praise their impotent gods on the very night when the Persian army was poised to end their revelry forever.
Belshazzar’s story stands recorded on the pages of sacred scripture. He died because the gods of materialism, power, and pride could not save him. In contrast Daniel kept trusting in the true God.
Sam’s father was there with strong arms to deliver him when he was a boy. Your heavenly Father is here today with strong arms to deliver you from Belshazzar’s tragic fate through the forgiveness and the resurrection power that only Jesus can provide.