God’s Guiding Hands

God’s Guiding Hands

Have you ever wondered what the Scripture has to say about God’s hands? As I began to research this idea, I discovered some fascinating things about the hand of God. The first thing I learned is that the Bible has a great deal to say about hands. The word “hand” appears 1,466 times in the Bible, and the plural word “hands” appears another 462 times! Apparently, God thinks hands are important. He created them to do things and work to advance the Kingdom.

Now, not all of the above references have to do with God’s hands, but there are plenty that do. Today I’d like to talk about 7 things that God’s hands can do.

1. Stop! Look! Listen! This brings to mind the policeman or the school crossing guard with a hand in your face telling you it’s not a good idea to cross the street! This hand represents authority and says to stop and pay attention! God may use this hand when we are rushing on our own pathway, and He desires us to stop and listen to Him. Are you paying attention and listening carefully for his direction! Stopping when He says “STOP!” may save your life — or save you from a disastrous decision.
2. Be Quiet! Talk to the Hand! We sometimes use this gesture or comment when we’re upset with someone who continues to argue with us. Occasionally, when I’m holding forth arguing my case with God, I have sensed Him hold up His hand like this and let me know it’s time to stop with my arguments. He lets me know I can keep arguing but I’ll be talking to the hand because He’s no longer listening! He’s graciously waiting for me to run out of things to say and be ready to listen to Him! This hand communicates, “Stop talking and just do what I’ve told you!”
3. Come This Way! This kind of hand tends to appear when a stoplight goes out, or when there’s construction, or when someone is helping with crowd control. This hand waves at us, usually quite urgently! It’s saying, “Come this way, and hurry up about it! There’s people and cars behind you and you’re holding up the line!” Occasionally, this hand of God has had to get my attention when I’m sitting at a crossroad in my life. He seems to wave at me and say, “Hurry up already! I’ve told you what to do and which way to go! Let’s get on with it!”
4. The “Royal Wave” We’ve all seen this wave! Queen Elizabeth and other royals have used it to publicly acknowledge the crowds that cheer them. We sometimes wave to acknowledge that we see someone; sometimes we wave to say “I recognize you!”. And then sometimes we wave to get someone’s attention, i.e., when we’re saving seats for them. Does God wave at you? Is He saying, “I see you there!”? Or maybe He’s trying to get your attention….
5. American Sign Language is an essential way to communicate in the deaf community. It doesn’t need verbal sounds or words or sentences. I’m sure there are times when God feels as though I’m deaf to His voice! But from my perspective, sometimes trying to hear God is like trying to interpret sign language! One time I had an inner vision (more later) where I saw Jesus standing at the end of a long hallway. The doors along the hallway were open, and it was filled with noise and smoke and commotion! Jesus was talking to me, but I couldn’t hear Him and was having great difficulty figuring out what He was saying. Suddenly He pointed at His mouth and said, “READ MY LIPS!” I believe there’s a lesson in there somewhere. When we’re having trouble hearing, we need to focus on reading His lips and watching His hands. This requires a degree of intensity that may stretch us a bit but is needful if we are to “hear” Him.
6. Take My Hand and Let Me Lead! Scriptures talk a lot about taking God’s hand in order to demonstrate our trust and willingness to follow. Much like a small child who trusts us to walk them across the street, or through the middle of a crowd, God wants childlike trust from us. He knows the way we should be going, so when we take this hand, we can trust that we will be safe, and that His strong arm will guide and protect us.
7. Handwriting on the Wall. This was clearly the hand of warning. Most of you will remember the story of King Belshazzar and the hand that appeared writing a message from God on the wall. I believe God prefers to use every other method first in order to persuade us to listen to Him. However, there are sometimes people who refuse, like Belshazzar, and Pharoah in Egypt during the time of Moses. In those cases, God may resort to stern warnings that say, “If you don’t turn from your ways, this is what will happen to you!” Often this was the role of the prophet in the Old Testament.

Widows often wonder about whether or not they are hearing God clearly? They wonder about how to find His direction and what He desires for them to do next. As we consider the ways His hands work in our lives, we see His love and care demonstrated over and over. God has provided many ways to try to communicate with us. His desire is not to confuse us, but rather to make the message so clear that we can’t miss it! He has never stopped speaking; we’ve just stopped being intentional about listening.

Next week, we’ll consider a simple way to determine if you’re hearing the direction of the Lord clearly. As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome here or at sheryl@freshhope.us.

Psalm 16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”