Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

Lamentations 2:19 ESV


Monday, October 14, 2013

The Sensitive Hands of God

Have you ever just contemplated your hands?


 

Did you know that your fingers are some of the densest areas of nerve endings in your body? That means they give the richest source of tactile feedback to your brain. Your sense of touch is intimately associated with your hands. And that sense of touch tells you a lot about what is in your hands. You can "see" with your hands.
 
I grew up in Sunday school and VBS singing, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." I sang the song many times with my own children when they were young. We loved to sing the different verses and do the motions.
 
Scripture has many verses that speak of God's hands.
 
He not only holds the world in His hands, those same hands formed it. "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land." Psalm 95:4-5
 
His hands are mighty.  "O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?" Deuteronomy 3:24
 
Indeed, His hands never lack power. "Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear." Isaiah 59:1
 
His hands are righteous. "According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness." Psalm 48:10
 
Our very breath is held in His hands, "In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." Job 12:10 NKJ
 
His hands uphold His people. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
 
In fact, His hands hold each one of His people securely. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand." John 10:29
 
But, think again of your own hands as you hold your child. What is traveling between you and your child through those nerve endings?
 
Now imagine yourself enfolded in the hands of God. As He holds you, His hands sense everything there is to know about you. Nothing is hidden. Every fiber of your being is sensed by His touch.
 
And because He is also your Creator, He knows your inner being as well as your outer being.
 
Genesis 2:7 tells us that the Lord God formed man. The Hebrew word translated formed is yatsar, meaning to form, fashion, or frame actively. Gesenisus' Lexicon notes that it is like what a potter does with clay, in essence, hands on. And, when woman was made, Genesis 2:22, the Hebrew word, banah, translated made, means most commonly to build or build up. Again, this speaks of a something that takes time and attention to do.
 
Psalm 139 reminds us of God's intentional activity in the formation of every human being. That means you, that means me, and that means our children, too.
 
There are many verses to the song, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hand." And we can add our own. We can sing, "He's got our sons and our daughters in His hands," because we know that as we pray for them, our Lord God wraps His mighty and sensitive hands around their lives to work His righteousness around these children we have committed to Him through prayer.
 
"…for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
2 Timothy 1:12

 

 

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