HANDS ARE HANDY

My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater
than all; and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand.
John 10:27-29

It's been amazing for some time how amazing our bodies are in their functioning. In God's creation, He thought of every possible and intricate thing regarding these bodies of our all that work in concert for us to function efficiently in so many ways. There are a multitude of things our bodies do without our thinking that work in concert with each other to keep us healthy and functioning.

One area that fascinates me are human hands. I must admit I didn't give my hands much thought until I broke my right wrist ago several years ago. I was painting my new office at work. Brian was with me when I fell off of a chair and banged my right wrist on the desk. I have never had a break in a bone before nor since that time. I asked Brian to go to the reception room and get a magazine that I put around the wrist that would do until we got to an emergency room.

At that time, a plaster cast was placed on my right arm from the elbow down into my hand. Suddenly I realized I was going to spend several weeks functioning with my left hand. I wondered how I would cook, bathe, drive safely, and feed myself. It is humiliating having to have your husband cut your meat, hence we didn't usually eat anywhere but burger places. A huge concern for me was that in my new job, typing was required because of all the reports that had to be written. With practice, I got to where I could type 45-50 words per minute with my left hand. I had to learn to do a lot of things left handed. It's amazing to this day that I still tend to do some things left handed.

Hands are mentioned often in Scripture. We read of the guiding hands of God. Also we read of people who lifted up “holy hands” in worship. Hands were often mentioned in the context of work. We are challenged in Scripture regarding our hands....”have clean hands and pure heart”...”stretched out hand”...to name a few.

I take such comfort in the fact of all my hands can do, and all God's hands do, One of the biggest blessings to me is what I see in the opening verses. Two wonderful promises are given by Jesus...”neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” He didn't stop there, but went on to say, “and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” What a double promise is given in those verses, but I wonder if we ever think of the safety and intimacy of being that close to Jesus and the Father.

When our daughter Jennie was about two years old, we made one of our treks to the Smoky Mountains and went on the Laurel Falls trail that is paved. Many families take their children on this particular trail. With Jennie being two, but a very sturdy walker, Brian still put her on his shoulders most of the way up the trail, but allowed her to walk as much as she wanted to on the way down. The stipulation was that she had to be holding her Dad's hand at all times if she was walking on the trail. There were times she wanted to pull away a run, but Brian had her in hand. That's where she stayed until we got to the car.

I'm not sure where we were going to go the next day when Brian took Jennie's left hand. She resisted almost to the point of tears. She said, “It huts.” We looked and sure enough the back of her left hand was bruised, noticeably so. Brian had held that little girl in the safety of his grip. It would have taken a lot for anyone to come along and grab Jennie. They would have had to take Brian's arm with them.

God does even more. I don't know how He gets all of us into His hand, but Jesus said that's the way it is. I wonder how many times we try to get away to do our own thing, but His grip tightens on us. He tries everything to keep us safe in every way, but we still try to go our own way. God will never let go of us where our salvation is concerned. If I choose to do some of my own things, I'll be the one with the bruises. I am safe not just in my salvation but being in His will. He's given me the privilege of making choices. Should I err, His hand is still near to pick me up and restore me to the safety of His presence.

As women, we use our hands for such a variety of things...wash dishes, cook, wash and fold clothes, apply band-aids to ouchies, button buttons, zip zippers, comb hair, change diapers and on and on the list goes. It would be impossible to begin listing all the things the hands of God does on our behalf. We so often don't even think of all the little things He does for us...so many things that keep us encouraged and moving through everyday living. Jesus holds us close to Himself where we are safe and should feel very secure, much like a Dad holding the hand of a two year old on a mountain trail.

Thank You Father for Your loving care of us. There's so much You do we don't realize or recognize. Keep us close. In Jesus Name...Amen