For King Belshazzar, the writing is, quite literally, on the wall. Many of the themes that we have met so far in Daniel resurface again. Here is a king who is proud of his achievements and who pays no regard to God. A king who has not learnt from the experiences of those who have gone before him. He is making the same mistakes as Nebuchadnezzar.
How often do we go on making the same mistakes? How often do we make a new start but soon slip back into old habits?
And so the judgement of God is pronounced by this hand that appears and writes on the wall: mene, meme, tekel, parsin. Words that only Daniel can read and interpret for the king. And so Daniel tells the king: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end; you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.
This is a reminder to us that we are in the hands of God - which may be an encouragement to us or fill us with fear.
It is an encouragement to know that the future, that events, that timings are all in God's hands. What happens is all a part of his plans - even if we don't understand what is happening. God has promised to carry us through these things. Nothing can happen outside of the plan of God. This can give us peace even in a turbulent situation.
But it can also be a fearful thing to realise that we are in God's hand - the God who judges.
Thankfully on the cross Jesus dealt with the problem of our sin so that we can know the forgiveness of God - allowing us to know the encouragement of being in God's hands.
