Holding Hands.

 For I am the LORD, your God,
   who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
   I will help you.

 Isaiah 41:13

Whenever my little girls are going anywhere with us, we have a rule: they must hold a hand. 

Sometimes they have to hold a "pocket" because mama's hands are full! 

We do this for a couple of different reasons: safety and comfort.
We make them hold our hands so that they don't run off and get hurt by a car or go to an area where they don't belong. 

We hold their hands so a stranger doesn't grab them and zoom off. 

Seth and I also hold their hands because when we go to new places or are around new people, it provides to them a level of security because it reminds them that we are with them and there is no reason to fear. 

God is the same way.  He is a wonderful Father who knows we need safety and comfort in this world full of hurt and fear. 

I once heard Beth Moore speak about a health scare she had.  Her daughter Melissa told her that "God knows it's scary to be us."  He who did not even spare His own Son for us is aware of how scary it is to be in it, but not of it. 

He grasps our shaky fingers and presses our sweaty palms to the same hand that formed the universe.  What a humbling thought - the God of all creation reaches out His arm and takes the hand of those who are willing to grasp it and receive the help of the LORD!

I want to tell you that there are times when my little girls don't want to hold our hands.  Sometimes they outright disobey this rule, which once led to our oldest daughter scaring the daylights out of me when she ran across a busy gas station parking lot. 

She thought that the freedom to do what she wanted was better than the comfort and safety she found in us.  God’s little ones can often be found doing the same thing – believing the lie that the freedom we have to do exactly what we want is a better alternative than His well-crafted very best for our lives.

 Nothing inherently bad happened to our little girl, except for maybe some threats for time-out for the rest.of.her.life!  That happened several months ago when they came to live with us. 

 I have noticed something since then: the longer she is with us, the more she likes holding our hands.  Perhaps it’s because the longer she knows us, and the more we keep our word to her, the more she trusts us.  

Photo Credit

 

In my own relationship with God, I have found the same to be true.  The longer and more I know Him, the more I love Him and trust Him.  Then I find I am more willing to walk with His hand in mine and let Him lead me to places that don't look near as scary when I am placing my life in His grasp.

May we find great assurance and delight as we cling more tightly to His hand of grace.

(This is an edited version of a devotion I wrote in 2011.)