The (IN) Good Hands People

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…
Isaiah 49.16

With no disrespect to a certain insurance company that likes to suggest we are safe and secure when we put ourselves in their hands, their hands are simply not big enough. But God’s hands, now those are hands big enough to hold all of creation.

Yet, as immense and strong as the hands of God may be, holding the vastness of the cosmos, countless stars, numberless solar systems, myriad galaxies, they are gentle hands, a shepherd’s hands, The Shepherd’s hands, hands that hold securely every sheep in his flock. That insurance company has turned down claims, and refused coverage, but the hands of God, once they lay hold of us, never let go.

I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost…
John 17.12

Of those whom you gave me I have not lost one.
John 18.9

So, while that insurance company can still advertise itself as “The Good Hands People” it is far better for us to know that we are “The In Good Hands People!”

As tender as the hands of God are, they are, as I said, strong. They are also rough and scarred. Some of the scars are self-inflicted, if you will. God himself engraved the names of his people on his palms so that we should know that he will never forget us. “As unbelievable as it sounds,” God said, “a woman is more likely to forget her nursing infant than I am to ever forget you.” (Isaiah 49.15, paraphrase)

But our names are not the only scars on God’s hands, there are also brutal marks of two nails which pinned the Lord to the cross. I know, it was Jesus, the Son of God, who was crucified, not the Father. But, given that the Father and the Son are one, I will not be at all surprised to see the Father’s hands bearing the same marks as the Son’s. Father and Son both sacrificed for our sakes, though only the Son died on the cross. And Father and Son alike hold us secure. Could there be better hands to be in?

Today is observed by many as Palm Sunday, marking the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. As we wave our palms and shout our “Hosannas” we might also be mindful of the palms that were scarred for us, compelling us, perhaps, to shout all the louder, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4