THE GRACIOUS HAND OF GOD

"For the gracious hand of God was on him..." - Ezra 7:9


There is an inescapable reality in life - that God's hand, like it or not, is upon us all. Man can deny that God created the world but he can never be completely sure of this since no one was there when the world was made. How else did it happen? Scientists have theorized, hypothesized, conjecturized, and strategized ways to explain the origin of our world but the truth still remains that nobody really knows.

The Bible in Acts 17:24-25 makes the claim that, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord or heaven and earth...he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." Strangely eerie words to think about in light of the fact that they might possibly be true. Could it be that the God who gives life and breath to all things governs the world and oversees every event and evolution of all time past, present and future? When it comes to the topic of creation, I think God has to remain a very real possibility until proven otherwise, not theorized otherwise, proven otherwise, and that hasn't happened yet. So for now at least, the fact that his hand is on our life is inescapable. This is a great thing. Let me tell you why.

GOD'S HAND IS GRACIOUS
The fact that an all-powerful God with the ability to create the world as well as destroy it chose to give you and I breath in our lungs and life in our body today is nothing short of amazing. We both know that life can end at a moments notice, we've seen it happen. There is nothing man can do to keep his heart from failing, his vessels from busting or his brain from short circuiting. Even the best medical care is at loss many times when it comes to fixing these things. Our life and our days on this earth rest completely in the gracious hand of God. He is so gracious to give us each day and gracious upon gracious to give us months, years and decades. Job 1:21 says that "The Lord give and takes away. May the name of the Lord be praised."

GOD'S HAND IS A COMFORT
In Isaiah 41:13, God says, "I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says, do not fear I will help you." In a world filled with uncertainly, there are many times to be frightened. There are fears of financial problems, family problems, fears of relationships or pain from failed ones, there are fears of the unknown, fears or failure and fears of natural disasters. The list goes on an on and a person can easily spend their entire life worrying about these things if they're not careful. This is what makes God's strong and reassuring hand that reaches down to take hold of ours so wonderful. Jesus reminded us he'll take care of us in Matthew 11:28 when he said, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." When we get beat down by the craziness of this world and reach up to grab the hand of God and allow him to walk with us through thick and thin, we find rest. We can find rest in knowing we are not alone (Joshua 1:5) and we can find comfort in the fact that "Our times times our in His hands" (Psalms 31:15) and not our own. God is a great dad who always has our best interest in mind just like 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast you cares upon him because he cares for you." We can rest easy putting God in control because we know He's got things figured out and we don't have to.

GOD'S HAND IS A PROMISE OF HIS LOVE
Throughout the Bible God, speak of himself as a groom, as us as his bride. It's always been a little strange for me as a guy to picture myself as a bride but the concept of God's faithfulness has never meant more to me than it does today. I don't know if God has hands that looks like ours, but if he does, I'm pretty positive he wears a wedding ring on his left one that symbolizes his love for you and me. God never cheats on us, he never leaves us (Joshua 1:5) and nothing we do or anybody else does can ever separate us from his love (Romans 8:38-39). He is the best example of faithfulness in a relationship and takes us back even when we leave him time after time for our love affairs with stuff, people, popularity or anything else we think is better.

1 Peter 5:6 says to, "Humble yourself under God's mighty hand." Will you do that? His hand is gracious and life giving, it's sustaining and a comfort, and it's a promise of his unfailing, never ending love for us. That pretty amazing and pretty mighty. In light of all that, will you thank God for how wonderful it is to have his hand on your life and will you make it your goal to live for him today?