The Hand of God

Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. Isaiah 48:13

As I was reading last night in Isaiah, this particular verse seemed to jump off the page at me. . it was as if the Holy Spirit wanted me to pause there and really get something extra special. But I had just read verse 12 which says: Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. The Lord used that verse to prepare me for verse 13.

Look at verse 12 again. He wants us to HEARKEN unto Him. Has He asked you (or "called you") to do something that seems to be a bit out of your comfort zone? He is The One that has been before the beginning of time. He knows the first from the last! He's already in each of our tomorrows.

After hearing His declaration of Who He is, the fear or uncertainty of facing the changing tides in life seem to disappear when we read verse 13. His HAND laid the foundation of the earth. Think of it. And He says His right hand spanned the heavens. Just one hand? Yes! Isaiah 41:10 says for us not to be afraid, because He "will strengthen thee; yea, (He) will help thee; yea, (He) will uphold thee with the right hand of (His) righteousness." He declares that the very hand that spanned the universe will be holding us. The Great I Am, Who is the first and the last, is also "our God." Yes...the first part of Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God..."

Even if we feel as if we've lost our grasp of His hand, He reassuringly tells us in Isaiah 42:6, "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee..." No matter the strength of our grasp to His mighty hand, He's got ours!

Next time you and I feel like our "hands" are weak and we can not press on one bit longer, let's take a moment to remember Who's hand has ours. The Hand that created the universe. God's righteous right hand! It's nice to think of the childhood song, "He's got the whole world in His hands," but I find it even more personally reassuring to realize He's got my hand, and I've got His. I hope you do too!

Dear Father, Thank You for taking hold of our hand, when we reached our feeble hands up to Yours. Thank You for not only holding us, You've engraved us in the palm of Your hand...there's no way we're slipping out from Your grasp! Please enable us to feel Your strength today, in our sense of weakness. No matter what You've called us to do, please reassure us every moment of every hour that You've got us, and what You've called us to do, YOU will enable us to do, for Your glory! In Jesus' Name, Amen.