Behold, I have graven thee on the upon the plams of my hands—Isaiah 49:16

I can empathize with the man who said, “I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it on.” Most of us are able to forget much better than we remember.

Yet God assures us that He will never forget us. Not for a second are we ever out of His thoughts. In fact, Isaiah tells us that we are inscribed on the very palms of His hands?the part of our body we use to reach out and demonstrate our love and concern through the ministry of touch. And the palms are the most tender part of those hands. So it is with compassionate and tender love that God has engraved us on His divine palms.

Sometimes in the midst of our troubles it may seem as if God has overlooked us. We pray and God doesn’t seem to hear us. We read our Bibles, but the verses all seem lifeless and meaningless. We look for solutions, but God provides no answers.

Despite your circumstances, remember where your name is engraved. Be assured that God has not forgotten you. The forgetfulness that is so common with humans can never afflict Him. Jesus’ nail-pierced palms are vivid reminders of our infinite value and His unending love. Give God time to accomplish His purpose in your life. Have confidence that your situation is only temporary. Stand firm on God’s promise, “Yet will I not forget you.” You’re in good hands with God.

God always oversees; He never overlooks—Woodrow Kroll

“I find no balm for a sore conscience, and a troubled heart, like the sight of Jesus dying for me on the accursed tree.

There I see that a full payment has been made for all my enormous debts. The curse of that law which I have broken has come down on One who there suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied. Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It will not be required twice over.

Ah! I might sometimes imagine I was too bad to be forgiven. My own heart sometimes whispers that I am too wicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this is all my foolish unbelief. I read an answer to my doubts in the blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross.”–J. C. Ryle

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”-1 Corinthians 15:17   Here was the grand evidence of the perfection and acceptance of His sacrifice. The atoning work of Jesus was in itself perfect and complete. It was all that God demanded, all that the Church required, and all that law and justice asked. Yet there lacked one proof that this work was accepted by God, and was satisfactory to divine justice. On the cross He had uttered that wondrous cry, which sent gladness through all heaven, and dismay through all hell- “It is finished.” But, lo, He dies! The Captain of our salvation is conquered! The promised Victor is vanquished! He is laid in the grave! The stone covers Him! The earth imprisons Him! What proof have we now that He was more than mortal? What evidence that He was God? What divine seal is affixed to the great charter of redemption? What pledge have we that it is complete? What security against the law’s loud thunder, and the consuming flames of justice- against the wrath of an offended God, and the condemnation that is to come? In a word, how may we know that all the divine perfections are harmonized in our salvation, and that “whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life”? Behold, the Father raises Him from the dead! This is the evidence- this is the seal- this is the pledge- and this is the security. We need even ask no more. It satisfied God; it satisfies us. At that moment all created intelligences were summoned to witness the great and final seal affixed to redemption’s perfect work; and while every eye was thus intently bent upon the yielding grave, the Father, in that stupendous act of His power and love, utters His solemn voice, “This is my beloved Son, in whose person I delight, and with whose work I am well satisfied.” Oh, what majesty now encircled the rising form of the incarnate God! Never had He appeared so truly a Savior, never so illustrious a Redeemer, and never so perfectly the Mediator and Advocate as now- sealed by God the Father, quickened by God the Spirit, and radiant with the beams of His own divine glory. (Octavius Winslow)

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.”

 

Luke 24:5-8

 

 

The resurrection is a picture of hope for every believer.

 

There once was a Christian lady who did a lot of traveling. She always took her Bible with her because flying made her nervous. On one particular trip a man saw the Bible and asked, “You don’t really believe all that stuff do you?“ The lady replied, “Well of course.“  He said, “Well what about that guy that was swallowed by a whale?” She said, “Yes, I believe in the account of Jonah.” He said, “Well how do you suppose he survived all that time in the whale?” She said, “I don’t know, I‘ll have to ask him when I get to Heaven.” He replied sarcastically, “What if he isn’t in heaven?” She said,  “Then you can ask him.”

 

Those who do not believe the truths of God’s Word are left questioning events that otherwise would seem impossible. But as Christians we draw hope and joy from these events, especially the event in our verses today. Jesus who died for the sins of the world, resurrected three days later and is alive today! Notice that Christ’s resurrection shows us three things.

 

First, His resurrection shows His promise to be with us. Throughout His Word, God promises to be with His people. God promises Israel in Jeremiah 42:11, “Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.” He tells them not to be afraid because He is with them.

 

Today, God says the same thing to us. “Don’t be afraid. I am your Father, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you that isn’t going to make you better. Trust Me.” Christ’s resurrection proves to us that He will always be with us.

 

Second, His resurrection proves His claim of deity. Many during Jesus’ day questioned His role as the Son of God. Many scoffed at His claim of deity. But as John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

 

Jesus truly was God in the flesh. He came to earth, lived a sinless life, and died on the Cross to pay for our sins. Had He stayed dead His claim of deity could have easily been dismissed, but He did what only God can do and raised Himself from the dead. His resurrection proves that He is the Son of God.

 

Last, Christ’s resurrection reaffirms His promise to return for us. Many times during His earthly ministry, Jesus taught of His return for His children. But how could He return if He was dead? The Lord’s resurrection reaffirmed His promise in John 14:2-3, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

 

Christ’s resurrection promises us that He is indeed God. He will always be with us, and He is coming again for us. What encouraging thoughts! While you may not understand the circumstances around you, never lose sight of God. Remember that He is with you and is in control of everything you see. Also, rejoice today in the fact that He is returning soon to take us to Heaven to be with Him forever. (By Paul Chappell)

“As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him” (Deut. 32:11, 12).

“When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath.”

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for this little plant.

Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his sharp axe he fells the oak. The plant weeps and cries, “My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!”

“No, no,” saith the angel of that flower; “now will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious abundance than before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, ‘How greatly hath that plant increased! How glorious hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!'”

See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians? Why, the Lord always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. This is the way in which He makes them soldiers–not by dressing them up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. God knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not to be grown in peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. Well, Christian, may not this account for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out thy graces and making them grow? Is He not developing in you the qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off conqueror?