December 16, 2014
Hold My Hand
I recently talked with a
woman who told me about a three year-old who was leaving preschool and her dad
told her to hold his hand so he could help her down the steps. Putting her
hands together the child rejected her dad’s offer and said, “I’ll hold my own
hand.” I have to admit that I love the tyke’s independence streak. However,
from an adult’s spiritual perspective, I’m now wondering how often I’ve told
the Lord, I’ll hold my own hand. “The
LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him
…” (Nahum 1:7 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----It would be nice if it were that simple. But something about taking hold of the Lord’s hand sems tricky. Many people “holding His hand” anxiously put their hands in the air and chant “Hands up! Don’t Shoot,” or march around chanting, “I can’t breathe,” dismissingly aware that others reveling in these sentiments have been marching up and down the streets chanting, “What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!” Many people who’ve “put their hands in His hand” have given their lives towards building utopia out of fascism, because the Bible teaches generosity. Then there have been those who have become so knowledgeable from their “hands being in His hand” that they’ve just had to excommunicate brothers and sisters over insanely ignorant, doctrinal differences.
-----Taking the hand of someone to be guided or protected is a beautiful picture. It shows both resignation and trust. But taking the Lord’s hand, putting my “…hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the water..,” never set well in my mind. And that it didn’t set well there never set well there, either. I never was quite sure from where in the Scriptures this concept came, except maybe Jesus taking Peter by the hand and lifting him out of the water. So, reading your blog this morning, I decided to search for its Scriptural source.
-----I love to say metaphors have limited utility. Extraction of meaning from a good metaphor can be carried too far. So also can critically analyzing them. Don’t let what I’m about to write destroy this beautiful metaphor of your hand in the hand of The Man. But please do ponder a very interesting technicality I found.
-----”Hand” is used metaphorically for power and control and counsel and shelter and work and various shades thereof. A child’s hand in a parent’s is very pictorial of shelter, counsel, and control. The Bible nowhere tells us to put our hands in His. But Ps 73:23 portrays the Lord holding someone by the right hand, guiding with His counsel. Again, Isa 42:6 is a picture of the Lord holding the right hand, saying, “Fear not, I will help you.” In both of these, the Lord holds the hand. Maybe this is why MacLellan wrote, “…put your hand in the hand…” The problem is that all other pictures of a hand in the Lord’s hand is of the Lord taking that hand, not of it being put into His hand. He took the deceased daughter by the hand, He took the demon possessed son by the hand, He took Peter by the hand, He took Cyrus by the hand. Only one instance in the Bible did someone actively put his hand even near the Lord’s, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me.” (Mat 26:23)
-----Well. Like I say, critical analysis of metaphors are worth only so much. What I see in hands in His hand in Scriptures is a tremendous humility of the hand being taken by Him. It is definitely a position arrived at passively.
-----And why should that be so important (if it is even important?) The hand passively in the Lord’s is not the aggressive hand “led by His counsel” to pomp it over the brethren, or anyone else for that matter. Yet aggression towards others for multitudes of reasons has left His body fractured and scattered about the land in disunity. No wonder the world does not believe God sent Him (John 17:21.)
-----So, if putting your hand in His hand is not the active motion Biblically portrayed for us, what is? “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves…” (Philip 2:1-5a)
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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