Engraved on His Hands

Tomorrow at sundown Jews all over the world will celebrate Passover.  It is a celebration, retelling and remembrance of what the Lord did for them when He brought them out of Egypt, the land of slavery, with a mighty outstretched hand.  When the Lord saw the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorframes of their homes, He 'passed over' that household and did not strike down their firstborn as He did throughout the homes of Egypt.  Then He led them out into the desert where they would learn to worship Him.  It was the birth of the Nation.

The Old Testament is full of stories about what happened next.  So often what happened next is that the people forgot He is a holy God Who demands to be first in the lives of His people; He will not share His glory with another.  And yet time after time we read that His people turned their backs, walked away, chased after other gods.  There was a price to pay for such rebellion.  There was suffering, defeat and cries that went up to a sky that seemed hardened as bronze.  Where was their Great Jehovah?  Had He forgotten them?  Had He abandoned them?  The words from the Prophet Isaiah tell us 'No!

But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me,

 the Lord has forgotten me!"

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have

no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands.

Isaiah 49

Ask a nursing mom if she can forget her baby.  If she does forget for a time, her body will automatically respond with sore, leaky breasts because she bears the reminder of the baby in her body.

God says through the Prophet that we are engraved on His hands.  The Hebrew word for 'engraved' is "haqaq" and it means to 'cut, take a chisel or a hammer and cut, as into a rock'.  I hope you don't just pass by the beauty of that meaning.  Our Rock Jesus Christ redeemed us with His mighty arm on a long ago Passover; and the same arm that stretched out the heavens in creation now stretched out on a Cross - and men took a hammer and with it 'cut' into His hands.  For Israel, for you, for me.  We are engraved on His hands, and just as the nursing mother bears the reminder of her baby in her body, our Lord's resurrected body also bears the reminder of His children on His hands.

Do you feel forgotten?  Abandoned?  Have you, like the Israelites, turned your back, walked away, chased after other gods.  Do you wonder if you can ever come back, if you'll be accepted after yet another failure?   Do you cry out as Zion did:   The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.  

 The Cross beckons:  'Come back; see I have not forgotten you; you are engraved on My hands.'  There is no time like now - this Season of the Cross - to return to those hands.  Or come for the first time; you just might see your name engraved there also.