In His Hands

In His Hands

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“So the LORD said to Satan,

“Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”

Job 2:6

What keeps a person hoping when trials are heaped against him like one stone on top of another—until the only place to look is up?

After chapter two of Job one character is conspicuously absent from every conversation. His handiwork casts Job into a pit he cannot understand. He feels God’s hand is against him as an enemy. His friends berate him without mercy, blaming him for the mess he is in. Not once does Job blame Satan for the troubles that have come to him. The closest he comes to recognizing another hand involved with God is when, in desperation, Job cries out,

“The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covers the faces of its judges.

If it is not He, then who is it?”

Job 9:24

But as the words come from his mouth, Job rhetorically states someone had to give the earth into wicked hands. His conclusion—it had to be God.

Truth is if it is not God, we are all in big trouble. We would be left on our own or at the whims of Satan. But, ultimately, God is sovereign, ruling over all, setting boundaries for nature, man, and the devil.

When we don’t understand, any better than Job, why God allows some severe trials and others relative ease, nor why wickedness prospers for a time, or why suffering comes to the righteous, we can say with the psalmist David,
“Incline Thine ear to me, rescue me quickly.

Be Thou to me a rock of strength,

A stronghold to save me …

Into Thy hand I commit my spirit;

Thou has ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.”

Psalm 31:2,3,5, NASB

Of course, the quick rescue rarely comes fast enough for our impatient spirit, but when we place our spirit in God’s hands, we are assured by his truth, he will save us, even as he did Job, David, and Jesus.

As Jesus hung on the cross, he felt in his humanness as if God had abandoned him.

“And Jesus, crying out with a  loud voice, said,

“Father, INTO THY HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” 

And having said this, He breathed His last.”

Luke 23:46, NASB

The Father heard Jesus’s cry and delivered him—into death—to deliver him, and all who believe, out of death.

We have a choice, commit our spirit into God’s hands or the hands of the wicked one. When we place our lives in God’s hands we are promised—

“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 …
• 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 …
• So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
• And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”

John 10:28; Psalm 121:7-8; Jeremiah 15:21 NASB

When we commit our spirit into the hands of the wicked one, we may enjoy the season of sin for awhile but know, “the wages of sin is death.”

May we choose wisely to—

“present our bodies

a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Romans 12: 1b, NASB

A sacrifice of praise:

“Blessed art Thou,

O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness and the power

and the glory and the victory and the majesty,

indeed everything, that is in the heavens, and the earth;

Thine is the dominion, O LORD,

and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from thee,

and Thou dost rule over all,

and in Thy hand is power and might

and it lies in Thy hand

to make great, and to strengthen everyone.

Now therefore, our God,

we thank thee, and praise Thy glorious name.”

1 Chronicles 29:10b-13, NASB

Job continued to commit his spirit to the Lord through all he suffered. David facing his many enemies committed his spirit into God’s hands. The Lord Jesus, knowing he walked in the Father’s will, committed his spirit to his Father. May we do the same knowing—

“You are from God, little children,

and have overcome them;

because greater is He who is in you

than he who is in the world.”

1 John 4:4, NASB

This is what keeps hope alive when the trials of life surround us. Look up. Your redemption draws near.

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What scripture do you look to when needing a fresh dose of hope?

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A Writer’s Heart: Happy Ever After

The Writer’s Heart: Happy Ever After

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;

When shall I come and appear before God …

O my God, my soul is in despair within me …

I will say to God my rock,

‘Why hast Thou forgotten me …’”

(from Psalm 42)

When my Mom walked through the land of dementia, her mind filled with questions. The words of this Psalm identified her want and expressed her need. Her want was for immediate release and understanding of the new world she had no memory of. Peace, hope, and strength for the journey was her need.

In the writing world, I’ve heard authors should give their readers what they want—for most that is a happy-ever-after ending, concluding whatever conflict our characters face. What is needed is how to walk through the struggle and survive to that ending—to know there is peace, hope, and strength available to make it. No one wants a long journey, but the journey is where the need reveals itself. The author’s challenge comes in helping the readers find and fill the need that brings about the happy-ever-after ending we all want. It comes with knowing where to find it.

Three verses in Psalm 42 supply the answer.

“… Hope in God,

for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence …

The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;

And His song, will be with me in the night,

A prayer to the God of my life …

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance, and my God.”

(from verses 5,8,11)

When Mom would have a really bad day, we would read scripture, pray, and sing praises to our God. Every time, the Lord would meet us there and peace, hope, and strength covered her spirit—until the day He came for her and gave her the happy-ever-after ending she desired.

May we as authors, not only give our readers what they want, but lead them to the place where their needs become their desire. Then our character’s happy-ever-after ending reaches into the reader’s heart where they find their own happy-ever-after ending. And isn’t that what we really want?

Where Is God?

Christmas approaches. The day we celebrate as the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, arrives. We look at our world and some may wonder where is God?

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give  you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isa. 7:14.

Matthew 1:22 gives us the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and the meaning behind it.

“…which being interpreted is, God with us.”

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.” Psallm 139:7-11.

Where is God?

He is wherever His people are. And He promises,

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Heb. 13:5b

He is among those in need.

“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

And the righteous will ask, When did I do this for you?

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:35-36;40).

He is in His own.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20.

He is at the right hand of God.

“…who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us…Rom. 3:34b; Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25.

Where is God?

“…which being interpreted is, God with us.”

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As you think on Christmas and God with us, what does that mean to you? How does He make his presence known to you?

Heavenly Father, thank you.