“Listen my child, I have chosen you, I created you and I will help you. You have no reason to fear. I pour out abundant blessings on your descendants. Some will say “I belong to the Lord”, others will call himself by the name of Jacob, still another will write on their hand
“The Lord’s.”
I am the King, the Redeemer and the Lord Almighty.
I am the first and the last.
Apart from me there is no God.”
-Isaiah 44:1-6 (my paraphrase)
I am not a fan on writing on your hands. In fact, I find it rather annoying and immature. It bothers me when I see my children write on their hands, but it really irritates me to see grown adults write on their hands. Can’t they find a sticky note or a piece of paper, or text themselves a note? I realize that admitting this, allows you some insight as to my many quirks. Handwriting is one of them. So imagine my surprise when during my devotions, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to write “The Lord’s Isaiah 44:5” on my hand. Ahh! What a dilemma! The obedient part of me is staring at my hand thinking “Really, is this really what you want me to do?” While the control freak in me is screaming No! So with much disbelief, I swallowed my pride, obeyed the Lord and I did what I hate. I wrote on my hand.
Here’s a riddle question for you:
What’s the one man made thing in heaven?
Throughout the day, I caught myself staring down at my left hand. The disbelief of writing on myself began to dissipate as the Holy Spirit reminded me all throughout the day, that I am the Lord’s! As I practiced the violin with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then the first line of Here I am to Worship, I smiled at the thought of practicing a worship song while thinking of being “The Lord’s.”
Yesterday, I found myself in the kitchen for most of the day. I baked my mom a chocolate birthday cake with peanut butter frosting and delivered meals to two families. While in the kitchen, delivering meals, helping the kids with homework, and celebrating my mom’s birthday, I was once again reminded, I am “The Lord’s”. Often I thought about this verse:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength. Impress these commands to your children. Talk about them when you sit at home or drive down the road, when you go to bed and when you get up in the morning. Tie them as symbols on your hands, bind them on your foreheads, write them on the door frames of your house and gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (my version)
Exodus 13:9 tells us this is to be symbolic rather than a literal command of attaching something to our body. It is to serve as a reminder for the Lord to be on the forefront all we think and act upon. I can recall from the many Anatomy classes that the frontal most part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, which is located directly behind our foreheads, is the area of our brain responsible for planning, decision making, and social behavior. What was God telling his people then and now? If you keep the Lord on your mind, you are less likely to sin.
Riddle: What’s the one man made thing in heaven?
“See, I have written you on the palms of my hands.”
Isaiah 49:16
Answer: The scars from Jesus Christ’s nail pierced hands.
After school my children quickly noticed the writing on my hands. Andrew simply shook his head making a tsk-tsk sound while Rachel commented “We’re not supposed to do that remember?” I smiled and said, “You’re right, I don’t like this, but when God tells you to do something, you do it!”
~April
“May you and I be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:12
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