HANDS
Of all of our faculties, the hands are probably the most useful. With the hand, the optometrist is able to guide the instruments that correct the vision in your eye or the doctor is able to diagnose a sore back and the carpenter is able to construct a beautiful house. A wonderful testimony could be told about Anthony Burger of the Gaithers. He is their pianist and has been for 13 years. He came home from church at the age of 3, sat down at their old upright piano and played, The Old Rugged Cross. Starting music lessons at the age of 5, he mastered classical music and is one of the world’s most renowned pianists. He tells the story of how, at only 8 months, on a very cold winter day, falling out of a walker onto the floor furnace and getting his hands stuck on the grate, burning them so bad that for a year he had to be carried on a pillow. Doctors said he would not ever use his hands but the rest is history. God healed his hands completely for he had a job to do for God, with his hands. Along with the Gaithers, he has blessed the world with his wonderful playing and gifted hands.
God’s word is full of references to hands and in Joshua 9:26 and 27, we read
“And now here we are, in your hands to do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.”
The Gibeonites were living in fear of Joshua and Israel so they devised a plan to protect themselves. Knowing that Israel honored their treaties, they put on old clothes, loaded their donkeys with moldy bread and made their way to the Israel camp. They told Joshua they were from a far country and desired a treaty with them. Joshua and his leaders did not seek the counsel of God so lesson number one is to always seek guidance from God. As it turned out, they lived next door but their treaty bound Israel, made in haste and without the wise counsel of God. As it turned out, they agreed to become their servants—woodcutters, water carriers but they were preserved. “We are in your hands,” they told Joshua.
Remember the story of Joseph, after his brothers and father came to live in Egypt, and Jacob was about to die. He wanted blessings for his sons. When it was time to bless Joseph and his two sons, Jacob put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the younger, instead of Manasseh, the older. Joseph was displeased so he lifted the hand of his father to place it on the head of the older son but Jacob would not allow it to be done, Genesis 48:16-19. A review of a little background makes it easier to understand Jacob’s feelings. You see, he was the younger son and he stole the birthright, with the help of his mother, Rachel, from Esau, the older brother, many years earlier. Now he was blessing Joseph’s younger son in the same way. The lesson is that God will accomplish his task without our help. True, God desired for Jacob to receive the inheritance and blessing from his father, Isaac and God would have made it happen without Jacob’s help. We must be careful to not run ahead of God for God is perfectly able to accomplish his purposes.
Of secondary significance here is the power of the right hand to bless and we could add to curse. This blessing carried with it great importance for in the story of Jacob and his brother Esau, when it was learned by Esau that his brother had stolen the birthright and blessing, he wept and asked if there was not even a blessing left for him, Genesis 27:38. Jacob then had to run for his life.
In I Samuel 19:5, Jonathan stands up for his good friend David and speaks well of him. “He took his life in his hands,” Jonathan told his father, King Saul, “when he killed the Philistine giant.” So Saul listened to his son and promised not to kill David but we know he did not keep that promise but tried very hard to get rid of David.
Job remarks that he will wash his hands with soap, indicating that he desired to purify his life before God. In another chapter Job remarks:
“Your hands have made me and fashioned me, an intricate unity.”
We are a very complex, elaborate being, each of us unique in our own ways, no two of us the same. God’s hands formed us from the dust of the earth and we will return to dust. We are born, we die, we will stand before the throne of God at the judgment seat and sent to our eternal destiny.
Timothy writes the following, in I Timothy 2:8,
“I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
These hands of ours are holy and can be used in acts of worship. Remember King Solomon, how he prayed to the God of heaven, with hands lifted in an act of surrender and worship. I Kings 8:21 tells us:
“Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands towards heaven;
Again, the testimony could be told of King Solomon, as recorded in II Chronicles 6:12, 13 where a platform was built in the outer court of the temple that he had been assigned to build by his father, David.
“Now as the people watched, he knelt down, reached his arms towards heaven and prayed this prayer….”
The prayer he prayed was a prayer of petition, asking God to hear his people, that if they had sinned a sin, God would forgive, if there is a famine in the land, please listen to the prayers of your people, when foreigners come to our land and pray to the God of heaven, hear their prayers and may we rejoice in your kind deeds. The point is that King Solomon prayed with hands raised to God in heaven.
Sometimes God desires for us to bend our knees as in Ephesians 3:14 where Paul tells us he bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. David says in the morning I will look up, Psalms 5:3,
“My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up.”
In Psalms 25: 1 David writes that he will lift up his soul to the Lord, and in 62:8 he says he will pour out his heart before God. Sometimes with our hands high in the sky or at our sides, we need to pour out our hearts before God. We can be assured that he does hear us. We are drawing near to God, Psalms 73:28. God wants us to seek his face, Psalms 27:8. Jeremiah, too, knew how to pray for he writes in Lamentations 3:41,
“Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.”
David writes in Psalms 134:2 the following:
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
Paul tells us to not only raise our hands in worship and praise but to use our hands to bless others. A hand on a shoulder, a pat on the back, a firm handshake will bless others. Our hands are wonderful things and must be used for God.
Our hands can do good things or bad. Noah stretched out his hand and took in the raven when he was on the ark. Of course, Noah built the ark with his hands. Jonah reached into his bag, took out shekels with which he paid the fare to go to Tarshish. He ended up in the belly of the whale for three days and pulling the seaweed from off his face, he cried out to God, promising to fulfill his vows, confessing that salvation comes from God alone. Peter gripped his sword, with his hands, swung at the soldier and cut off his ear. Jesus touched and restored the ear.
Abraham used his hands to bind his son, lay him on the altar and then raise the knife to slay his son but when told by God to put the knife down, loose his son, a substitute was provided. This speaks of Jesus becoming our substitute, when he died on the cross for the sins of the world. Isaiah 53
Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) used his hands to climb into the sycamore tree because he wanted to see Jesus. His hands became very useful. He promised, when Jesus came to his house, to repay from whomever he stole tax money. He reached into his shekel box and pulled out money to repay his debt. Jesus desires for us to use our hands for blessing others. Yes, it means that we should use our hands to do our work as unto the Lord. It also means we should bless others with our hands. A pastor laid his hands on my wife at one time, during a time of suffering from asthma and the power of God, the burning power of God’s Spirit burned the asthma out of her lungs and the heat and burning of that miraculous miracle lingered for several hours and never again did asthma have a grip on her breathing.
Isaiah has some interesting things to say about a man who uses his hands to make an idol in Isaiah 44:14-17.
The carpenter uses the tools of his trade to fashion an idol after the figure of a man, thus making his god in his own image. The idol is completely passive throughout the entire procedure. It does nothing to help form itself, its appearance, or its dwelling place.
From where then does the wood to make the idol come? The idol-maker first cuts down a tree, but must himself replant to replace it. He then hopes the rains come to cause the new tree to grow, but neither he nor his idol have any control over this.
How will man use the felled tree? He might burn it for firewood. He might burn it for cooking. In either case the wood turns to ashes and cannot be reused. Whatever wood is left after man sees to his physical needs might be turned into an idol. The use of wood for warmth and cooking are within God's plan for man's use of the earth, but to carve an idol from it makes that same piece of wood an abomination to Him.
The tree could not stop the man from cutting it down, using it for warmth and cooking, or carving the remainder into an idol, but foolish man now expects that same tree to be his deliverer! His hands created the idol.
We can open our heart’s door, which can only be opened from the inside and invite Jesus in. As an act of your will, open your hands before God, tell him these are his hands and this heart is opened before you. In the story of Stephen, (Acts 7) as hands were being used to stone him for his testimony, he remarked that he could see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
He entered into the presence of a Holy God with clean hands and even praying that this sin would not be charged against those stoning him. Let’s use our hands to bring glory to God.
Remember the four men who brought their paralytic friend to Jesus on a stretcher and let him down through the roof. The Bible does not tell us the size of the hole or how long it took the four to dig through the roof. I believe it was not a quick or easy task for in Mark 2:4 we are told, "Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on." The four men had faith and knew Jesus could heal their paralyzed friend. Yet, I doubt they knew they would encounter the living and Holy One of God when they started their journey.
These men used their hands to accomplish a wonderful healing for their friend but more important than that healing was salvation that came to the paralytic. Our hands can bring salvation; that pie to a neighbor may open the door for an opportunity to share your faith, that card in the mail may be the opening you need to be a blessing, that help on a Saturday when a lawn needs mowing, a fence needs building, a car needs washing, a meal needs to be cooked or a story read to a granddaughter may very well be the hand that God desires to use.
The paralytic was forgiven of his sins and received a physical healing as a result of the faith of his friends. In Mark 2:5 we read, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" In Luke 5:20 we read, "When Jesus saw their faith, He said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'"
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. Acts 3
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!" Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Act.9: 36-41.1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Colossians 3:17 & 23 "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Use those hands to bring glory to God.
God who originally formed man from the dust of the earth is continually forming us into the servants, the disciples, the carpenters, the ministers, the teachers, the doctors, the musicians he desires us to be.
Romans 9:20-24 says, "Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, on the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?"
We now have the power too, to make use of our hands; not to make an idol as Isaiah described but to carry a paralytic to Jesus, to open the Word to a hurting soul, to give a hug to one in sorrow and to reach into our pockets and give God our very best. Don’t use your hands to point to someone else for in so doing, 3 fingers are pointing right back at you. Place your hands on the altar and dedicate them anew to Jesus. Use your hands to work heartily as unto God, to touch a hurting soul, a hug a crying child, to fix a toy or help someone across the street.
God stretched out his hands, and they were nailed to the cross. The nail prints were evidence of his love and he showed them to his disciples. We can let God’s love in our lives motivate our hands to work for him. He wants our hands to be of service to him.
Probably the most comforting of all scriptures is the one in Psalms 73:23 where we read:
“But even so you love me, you are holding me with your right hand.” It is wonderful to know that we are being held by God’s hand. That is our security. God’s right hand is holding us secure.”
"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted ... For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my LORD sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Acts 2:32-34)
This is a quote from Psalm 110: "The LORD said unto my LORD sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool".
- Isa 40:5 "And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it."
- Psalm 16:8 "I have set Jehovah always before me: for He is at my right hand; therefore I shall not be shaken"
- Psalm 77:10 "And I said this is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High".
- Isa 48:13 "Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together"
- Isa 62:8 "The LORD has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies: and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured"
· Isaiah 59:16 "And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor, and therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness did sustain him"
· Ex 15:6 "Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy."
Consider this wonderful preview of the savior to come...
· Psalm 80:17 "Let thine hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man who thou madest strong for thyself"
· Psalm 98:1 "O sing unto the LORD a new song: for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand, and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory"
· Psalm 44:3 "For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm and the light of thy countenance, because thou did a favor unto them."
· Psalm 20:6 "Now I know that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven by the saving strength of his right hand."
· Matthew 26:64 "Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."
· Mark 16:19 "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God".
· Acts 5:31 "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins"
· Hebrews 10:12 "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God:"
· Romans 8:34 "Who is he that condemned? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."
· Hebrews 8:1 "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens;"
· 1 Peter 3:22 "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God: Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."
· Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when He had by himself purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high."
· Revelation 5:1 "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book written within an on the back side, sealed with seven seals"
It is considered an offence to hand someone something with your left hand in some cultures. In East Africa, the common practice was to use either the right hand alone or with both hands. When greeting someone, it was common to hold one's own right arm at the wrist or above while shaking the other person's hand with the right hand.
This distinction of the left hand as inferior, or shameful, is an ancient concept that is reflected in today's Middle East and shows up in Biblical events. The favorite son of Jacob, for instance, was named Ben-Yamin, the Son of my Right Hand, indicating his favored position which is the Old Testament concept of God's right hand of blessing. Jacob was branded by God in the thigh after wrestling with the angel of God. This presents an interesting concept of blessing even under duress. The scripture tells us that Jacob then transported his family and flocks back across the ford Jabbok, then crossed over towards the direction from which Esau would come, spending the night alone, in communion with God. There, a mysterious being ("a man", according to Genesis 32:24, or "the angel", according to Hosea 12:4) appeared and wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. When he saw he could not defeat Jacob, he touched him on the sinew of his thigh. As a result, the Israelites would not consume that part of an animal's thigh from that point on (Genesis 32:33). This incident still has an impact on many Jews today, as Orthodox Jews will not eat the area containing the gid hanasheh (commonly identified as the sciatic nerve) on an otherwise kosher animal.
The name Ben-yamin (Benjamin) means "son of my right hand," indicating "the one loved." Benjamin's original name Ben-oni meant "son of my pain." (Rachel died bearing him.) But to his father Ben-oni was Ben-yamin, "the right hand (the beloved) son." (Genesis 35:16-20) Joseph required Jacob to give up Benjamin. (Genesis 43:1-34) We all have a "Benjamin." Can we give it up to get God's blessing? Jacob had to pray "Hold back the blessings, God, they are too many!" (Genesis 25:9-15)
Let us strive for God's right-handed blessing. Let us strive to be God's right hand to those around us. Let us use the cultural patterns of relationship and blessing to those God brings into our path.
Probably the most comforting of all scriptures is the one in Psalms 73:23 where we read:
“But even so you love me, you are holding me with your right hand.” It is wonderful to know that we are being held by God’s hand. That is our security. God’s right hand is holding us secure.
Remember the story of Pilate (Matthew 27:24) where he knew he was guilty of the blood of Jesus but he tried to wash his hands to rid himself of guilt. He could wash the blood off his hands but not his heart and history tells us that he died as a suicide.
Jonathan Edwards wrote a message 200 years ago about Sinners in the hands of an angry God. That is a place we don’t want to be. Their foot shall slide in due time (Deuteronomy 32:35) was what God told the Israelites because they refused to follow him. Psalm 72:18 says the same thing, "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou cast them down into destruction."
We know, God is able to keep us from falling, to keep us secure but if we choose to disbelieve, not live by the word, we are putting us in dangerous places. As Jonathan Edwards preached those many years ago, “We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell.” John 3:18. "He that believeth not is condemned already." We don’t want to become the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell.
If we could speak with those that have gone to hell and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell, ever to be the subjects of misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should contrive well for myself -- I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me.
Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
Nehemiah 2:18 I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. They said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
The Bible says that the world was made by God's hands. And the world is held together by His hands. In fact, the Bible says that it is in the palm of His hands. The world, and all things in it, are moved and guided by God and led to the end that God has determined. As Christians we do not serve the idols of man, chance; we do not look up to the stars; we do not sing simply "what shall be, shall be - it is written somewhere in the stars." No, we have perfect knowledge of who controls and holds the world together. We know where the world is going. We have a perfect and only comfort. We serve the living God - the God of the Bible.
We read in Job 19:21 (chapter 19 in many ways is the very heart of that entire book) where Job says to his three friends: "Have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me." You see, the Old Testament saints and the believers never confessed that they were ruled by fate, that things just simply happened by accident. They believed in the hand of God who held all things and directed them.
In the Bible God speaks of His hand. He says, "My hand hath done these things." Speaking to nations like Assyria, in the Old Testament, a people who were swelled in pride over their military success and power, God says, "Shall any deliver out of My hand? Who shall stay or hold back My hand?" So God controls us with his hands but still we read in Psalms 139:10 “Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”