Written on God's Palm
POSTED Mar 31, 01:26 PM
From the Pastor’s Desk –
Written on God’s Palm
“I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16)
We all have seen someone do it – looking for a piece of paper on which to take down a note, not finding any paper – then writing something on the palm of his hand to help him remember a phone number or something else important. I remember my parents, when I was growing up, telling me not to write on my hands. And of course we all remember those classmates who, on test day, had notes written on their hands and up their arms. I had a teacher who would make the whole class go wash their hands and arms with lye soap before every test.
Today when you hear someone speak of writing something in their Palm, they are usually talking about their PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), otherwise known as a pocket computer. For those of you who are technology-challenged, let me explain. These small pocket-sized computers are amazing little wonders that help one keep track of appointments, phone numbers, addresses. They can hold a phenomenal amount of information and can retrieve it in milliseconds. On the one I use I have all the SPC members’ addresses and phone numbers, a calendar with all my appointments and it even beeps at me to remind me of where I should be and when I should leave to get there in time. It has several Bible versions, Bible dictionaries, Strong’s Concordance, Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, all of John Calvin’s Institutes, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional, The PCA Book of Church Order – the list goes on and on. Of course, the hope and goal of using a PDA or Palm device is to be better organized, make better use of one’s time, and to remind us of things we want to remember, things that are important to us.
Whether you write on your hand, stuff notes into your pockets, or enter information on your PDA – the idea is the same: There are certain things that are so important to us that we want to remember them and never ever forget them.
That is the same idea that we find in Isaiah 49:16 in which God says He has engraved us [our names, our life’s situation, everything about us] on the palm of His hand. A quick check of my Hebrew Dictionary in my Palm device has just shown me that the word “engraved” does not refer to simple writing or scratching on a surface, but rather it means to cut down deeply into something so as to leave a permanent mark. God says here that He has engraved us on [cut down deeply into] the palms of His hands. He is promising here to never forget us – to never forsake us.
The context of this verse is that some of the people of Israel during the Exile had begun to think that God had forgotten and forsaken them (v.14) even though He had promised to comfort them and have compassion on them. God responds (v.15) by asking a rhetorical question, “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!”
Do you ever feel as though God has forgotten about you? Do the problems and pains, the stresses and strains of life ever leave you wondering if God really cares? God’s Word assures us that He does indeed care for us! REMEMBER! If you have acknowledged Christ as Savior and Lord, then you belong to God, He has Saved you, and He has you engraved on the palm of His hand. Jesus said, “I will never leave nor forsake you.” He loves you always and forever, and will never ever forget you, His precious child. Now, go read Isaiah 40:27-31.
