SCARRED HANDS... Sunday

Devotional for Easter 4/5/15

A person's hands can tell you a lot about them.  Some hands are quite large, others very small, which generally reflects the size of their whole body, with occasional exceptions.  Whether they are soft and supple, or scarred and calloused, can reveal how much heavy work they do with their hands or how well they take care of them.  The skin of some hands may be chapped, which can indicate either that they wash their hands frequently or have their hands in water a lot, or that they often have been outside in wind or cold weather without gloves. The fingernails can reveal things too, like whether they are nervous and bite their nails, or if they have been working in soil when they have dirt underneath them.

Some people believe that you can read the palms of people's hands and tell what their future holds.  As a child I remember some friends saying that one of the creases on the palm of the hand was the life line, and if it was long you would have a long life. But we know that our future is literally in God's hands, not ours.

John 10:28 NIV  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 

And what about God's hands?  We know that Jesus our Lord and Savior has some special scars on his hands.  Those marks helped identify him to those who saw him after he was raised from the dead and walked this earth before ascending into heaven.  Those nail marks were evidence of his death on the cross to pay the debt that we owed for our sins.  It is as if we ourselves pounded in those nails.  His death is on our heads, but our name is on his hands.

Isaiah 49:16 NIV  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...  

What a glorious Savior we have, who never even sinned, yet died on the cross to save us from the punishment we wholly deserved, and rose again to give us eternal life with him in heaven.  God says "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us". (Psalm 103:12)  No matter how bad things have been in our lives, we can lay all our burdens at his feet and leave our entire future in his hands... his scarred hands! 

Prayer: (from the lyrics of "East to West" by Casting Crowns)

[Dear Lord,] I know You've washed me white, turned my darkness into light. 

I need Your peace to get me through this night.

I can't live by what I feel, but by the truth Your word reveals. 

I'm not holding onto You, but You're holding onto me. 

In the arms of Your mercy I find rest, because You know just how far the east is from the west, from one scarred hand to the other. 
For this I thank You, Lord.  In Your name I pray, Amen

written by Jan Andersen

East to West, by Casting Crowns