The Palms of His Hands

The second half of Isaiah 49 is just as amazing as the first. We see a strong promise early on that the God of the universe will have compassion on His people; but these later verses also describe God in very human terms.

“Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.

But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.’

‘Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...’” (v. 13-16a)

In the midst of grief and sorrow it is so easy to feel abandoned by God. But God assures us in these verses that even if a human mother could turn away from her hurting child, God cannot. And to prove His great love and care for us, He has gone so far as to engrave our names on the palms of His hands. Oh that we could truly envision this - it would give us a new appreciation of the endless depths of His compassion.

Does He have anything else on the palms of His hands, besides our names? Yes, He does. He has the visible marks of the nails that were hammered in during His crucifixion. Is that not proof enough of His everlasting love?

May we always look to His hands whenever we are tempted to believe that He has forgotten us.