Hand In Hand With God

I love that stage with little children when they are learning to walk. I jokingly refer to it as the orangutan phase, you know when their arms are flailing off to the sides in order for them to keep their balance as they have the hugest smiles on their faces. It is during this time that them grabbing just one finger on your hand greatly increases their stability, and from then on for a few years when you go out in public you insist that they be holding your hand or the hand of someone older. In them grasping your hand they find that they can trust you to keep them from falling, or at least falling and getting seriously hurt. It is also then that in holding their hand you are providing security and protection.

As we grow older and choose to walk hand in hand with someone be it our children, our boy-friend or girl-friend, our fiancé or fiancée, our spouse, or even our parents we do so out of affection and oneness. One of the first passages in the Bible that spoke to me about both the protection and the affection of our God had to do with His hands on me, and it is found in Psalm 139 where we read,

Psalm 139:5-10 You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.

Upon hearing this I knew that God loved me in a way that I wanted to love Him back. He loved me in a way that showed He wanted to have an intimate relationship with me, and this was huge. I had already been familiar with this concept of a God who would hold my hand from an Anne Murray song that I had learned titled “Put Your Hand in the Hand,” but upon seeing this passage of Scripture for the first time I think I really began to understand just how much it meant for me to go with my hand in His hand through life with God. And from that time on when I heard this song it had a whole new meaning.

Anne sang about putting her hand in the hand of the one who stilled the water and calmed the sea; putting her hand in the hand of the man from Galilee. In John 10:27-30 we read, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

When we placed our trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation we were forever placed in the firm hands of God, and He has called us to walk with Him, clinging to Him knowing that He will not let go of us and that it is impossible for Him to ever stumble or fall, and knowing that when we do stumble that He picks us up fully accepted and forgiven.

Psalm 121 A Song of Ascents. “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.”

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (6/24)

Hold My hand – and trust. So long as you are conscious of My Presence with you, all is well. It is virtually impossible to stumble while walking in the Light with Me. I designed you to enjoy Me above all else. You find the deepest fulfillment of your heart in Me alone.

Fearful, anxious thoughts melt away in the Light of My Presence. When you turn away from Me, you are vulnerable to the darkness that is always at work in the world. Don’t be surprised by how easily you tend to forget to cling to My hand. In the world, dependency is seen as immaturity. But in My kingdom, dependence on Me is a prime measure of maturity.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6