Inscribed on God's Hands

Good morning and I hope you are well,

This morning I was reading and thinking about

Isa. 49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms; your walls are constantly before me.

This impression verse follows on the fearful heels of Israel’s honest statement or belief that the sovereign Lord has openly forsaken them because of their rebellious sins. Although God had and has every holy right to reject the sinner’s good, He has continually provided the seal of His covenant of loyal love and pure justice to them by inscribing it on His hands. Of course this is spoken before the human incarnation of Jesus but it has bright ramifications to the hands of the dual-natured Christ. How could God say that He has inscribed in blood the covenant of promise on His hands being a spirit? He saw His gracious redemption by Jesus Christ and told it in grand prophecy to an ignorant, blind, and even despicable nation. (And it has ramifications to us also.)
I have several scares on my hands from work, play, and mistakes. One thing that is usual about these “reminders” is that they continue with me and I cannot forget them as long as my hands are. Now they will quietly and slowly lessen with time but that is because I am very human. But they bring back memories of foolishness, humor, and pain. Just as I was responsible for the scars on my hands, so is God. He allowed, or determined, His hands be maliciously scared by those “cutting names” who did the work. He put out his strong and submissive hands and wrote our names with the vicious knife we were holding. Some of these things are more than I can fully understand and all of them are more than I deserve. Remember today that your name has been written by the “eternal purpose of God which He accomplished through Jesus Christ” through Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him”.

But also remember that your name is on the dexterous hands of your eternal Workman. He works through you on you. Great thought! Great love!

will

Here is a quotation for thought:
“Do the hardest task first. Attacking your hardest task of the day without delay will build your resistance to passivity. Waiting until the end of the day only reinforces your sinful tendencies toward passivity. Make the hard phone call first. While this is similar to the first suggestion, it deals more with passivity within interpersonal relationships. Some men are willing to do the hard task first, but avoid difficult situations involving other people. Run to the battle. One only needs to consider the life of the Apostle Paul to see that conflict is a regular feature of the Christian life. Men who think all conflict should be avoided, or who refuse to engage with those who would harm the body of Christ or their family, not only model passivity but fail in the area of protection. Do you work now as opposed to later. From term papers to tax filing, the man who is cultivating biblical masculinity will not allow these things to rule him. He will exercise dominion over them by doing them in a timely manner. Keep your domain in order. While most of us on occasion have a messy desk or car trunk, a life that is characterized by disorder is evidence of passivity. Your home, dorm room, garage, office and car should bear the mark of your masculinity as you subdue it and keep it in order.”