Inscribed in His Hands

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your wails are ever before me- Isaiah 49:1446~IV)

Israel was in the midst of trying circumstances. Troubles were everywhere around them and in their despair they felt God had abandoned them. The language they use describes a double abandonment. The term “forsaken” describes an external desertion and the second verb “forgotten” describes an internal forsaking where the heart is turned away. Everywhere they looked they saw more trouble and pain and they felt God had run away and forgotten all about them.

Their reaction was a natural one. In the midst of hard times it is easy to feel all alone. We see this reaction in the lives of so many characters in the Scriptures. Even Jesus as he hung on the cross cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

Maybe you can relate to their feelings. You prayed for healing and the healing didn’t come and they died anyway, you prayed for help and deliverance and the heavens seemed even more silent. You ask, “Where is God in all this, does he even care?”

God responds by bringing to our minds the picture of the most loyal love this world knows: the love for a mother for her infant child. Is there any way that a mother can forget her nursing child? Unfortunately we all know that even mothers have abandoned their children to chase alter their own selfish pursuits.

God says, “Though she may forget, I will not forget you.” And as proof he holds out his hands and says, “Here look for yourself, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” As we look at his outstretched hands we see what Thomas saw, the marks of the nails that fastened him to the cross. Those nails did not hold him to the cross, it was his love for us that kept him there. Our doubts should vanish just as Thomas’ did as he saw those marks in the palms of his Lord’s hands.

We are as much a part of God as the lines on the palms of our hands are a part of us. No matter how much you’re feeling abandoned, no matter how desperately you’re hurting, no matter how many tears are falling God makes the promise: “I will not forget you!”

It has been said that pain is the deepest thing we have in our nature, and union through pain and suffering has always seemed more real and holy than any other. As we look to Jesus on the cross we see just how much God really loves us and we should never doubt his care and concern for us because he has shared in our suffering. Yes, God cares and his hands will bear the proof of his love for all of eternity.  

- Steven G. Kay