1.8.14 The Good Hand

1.8.14
"And by the good hand of our God upon us..."Ezra 8:18  "the hand of God was on us and protected us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes along the way." Ezra 8:31

Ezra must have had a thing about hands as I do.  For as long as I can remember, I've had this fascination with hands.  Permanent snapshots of people's hands are embedded in my memory.  From my Paw-Paw's hands as he handed me a piece of Juicy Fruit gum, to the hands of my newborn babies as they wrapped their tiny fingers delicately around my pinky, to the hands of my brother as I watched him change the brakes on my car, full of grime and grease under his nails, and then much later as he lie in his hospital bed.  He had my daddy's hands.  To the hands of my granny dropping dumplings gently into a pot of rolling broth.  I remember the hands of my daddy as he gripped the lawn mower handles or turned the key to wind the clocks in my childhood home, and the hands of my mother as she used two spoons to scoop cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, and as she received one of my babies I handed to her to hold.

I see these pictures vividly in my memory and now my imagination turns to seeing the hand of God that Ezra talked about.  He saw the hand of God as God's favor, and as a protection over them as they traveled.

I know many times I've prayed for God's hand of protection over my children, my family and others as they've traveled.  I've prayed that over my children in general, no matter where they were, many, many times.  God's hands are expansive, covering us in our everyday life, not just physically from harm, but from the attacks of the enemy.

Satan likes to trip us up and set up ambushes.  He does that by whispering lies to us.  He does that by putting a thought into our heads that leads us to an entire  3 act play of what "might" happen as we play out that one little tidbit of information he "shared" with us.  If he can get us to focus more on the what ifs, the could have beens, or even the so called greener grass on the other side, he will.

I've often seen myself as a little puppy chasing a butterfly.  I see this big meadow and I am frolicking around chasing this butterfly, all the while going further away from my Master.  But the hand of God protects me from my own self and God guides me back to my own back yard.

The hand of God, I wish I could fathom how big it is and has been in my life.  It will not be a surprise to me, or maybe it will, when I get to see how He has had it on my life for all my years.  The hand of God as His favor, His protection, His covering over me is comforting to me as I walk out the door today to realize His mighty hand is there to keep me-safe-physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Thanks be to God.  8/365