Daniel 5:17-31

Weighed and Found Wanting

Daniel 5:17-31

Daniel was unperturbed and undismayed. Calm and collected, he recognized his Father's handwriting, and read it, as the instructed may decipher a scroll which is illegible to the ordinary gaze. What to him were the gewgaws of the palace? With the wings of the angel of death overshadowing that awe-struck throng, it was of small importance that Belshazzar promised him the purple robe and chain of gold.

It seems sometimes as though those fingers were busy still writing their awful sentence on the walls of national revelry. While a nation is drinking deep at its cups and countenancing uncleanness, the divine assay may be in progress and the verdict going forth: weighed and found wanting. There may be gold and glitter, revelry and mirth, the splendor of state, and the profusion of rich viands; but what of these if the people are ignorant, irreligious, and impure? Then, indeed, dry-rot has set in! The root sin of all is pride. May the Spirit of God, who ever brings with Him light and understanding and excellent wisdom be found in us, as in Daniel.