The Hand of the Lord     

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NLT

This morning, I glanced up on the shelf above my desk and saw my plush ‘Mr. Bill’ figure standing straight up without a care in the world. Mr. Bill was a clay cartoon character in the early days of the late-night show, Saturday Night Live. He was an innocent happy-go-lucky young gent having a fun time as the skit begins but as it began to unfold disaster always found Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill’s misfortunes always came from Mr. Hands who would enter the scene putting together other clay figures to hurt Mr. Bill. As danger was approaching Mr. Bill would yell, ‘Oh Nooooo!’ Mr. Hands may have created Mr. Bill, but those same hands created his enemies as well.

The hand of the Lord is mentioned many times in the Bible. God’s hand is a guiding hand to help and strengthen us in our lives. It is a hand to hold us up and pick us up when we fall. God’s hand is powerful and protective. His hand will never do us harm. God’s hand will not hurt us. But the Lord’s hand is also a hand of discipline. It is a hand of divine judgement for the evil in the world. The book of Hebrews says, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (10:31 nlt) The same hands will protect and help us but also discipline us when we are not in step with God.

Mr. Hands created Mr. Bill but he was not his protector. Mr. Bill was not being disciplined when disaster struck because he did nothing wrong that we know of. It may seem a strange analogy from a Saturday Night Live skit, but we can praise God that His powerful hand is always moving towards our good for protection or for discipline if needed.