You're In Good Hands Series

You’re In Good Hands

That your hand would be with me and keep me from evil…

IT DEPENDS WHOSE HANDS IT’S IN

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19

A basketball in Shaquille O’Neal’s hands is worth about $19 million a year.

It depends whose hands it’s in

A baseball bat in my hands is worth about $12

A baseball bat in Jeff Bagwell’s hands is worth $17million a year.

It depends whose hands it’s in

A tennis racket is useless in my hands

A tennis racket in Anna Kournikova’s hands is fairly close to useless.

But a tennis racket in the hands of Venus Williams is a Wimbledon and U.S. Open Championship

It depends whose hands it’s in

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal

A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea

It depends whose hands it’s in

A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy

A sling shot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon.

It depends whose hands it’s in

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in the hands of Jesus will feed thousands

It depends whose hands it’s in

Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse

Nails in the hands of Jesus hands bring salvation for the entire world.

It depends whose hands it’s in

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested.” 1 Chronicles 4:10 (KNJV)

Jabez prays that God’s hand would be with him – not for the purpose of the first part of the sentence, enlarge my territory, but for the last – so the God would keep from evil, that he would not cause pain. This is very important to Jabez, that he not cause pain… we’ll talk about the details and power of that next week.

But for today, look at this simple request. Would your hand be with me that you would keep me from evil. Now when the New King James translates the Hebrew into the word evil, its not talking about evil in terms of its greatest, most dramatic, most overpower since. Jabez isn’t praying for protection from being possessed or anything. Jabez is praying, keep me evil, from harm, from hurting, from mischief, from affliction, from misery… from evil.

And there is evil, harm, misery in life today isn’t there?

Life Throws Evil at Us.

“A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” Psalm 34:19

A guy is waiting for a flight that is delayed. So he’s wandering around the airport and notices this ATM like machine. It’s a flight insurance machine. For a small price, it offers insurance against a canceled flight as well as a sizeable policy if the plane were to wreck and he were to die. He thinks about it. It seems like a good idea. Just in case, he thinks, it would be good to leave a nice insurance policy behind for the family. He buys the policy. The flight is still delayed, so he goes to get some Chinese food at one of the airport restaurants. It comes with a fortune cookie. He opens it, and it says, "Recent investment will pay high dividends."

You’ve heard the children’s story of Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

- Family’s house burns down

- A plane crashes, an employeer announces huge lay-offs, a house burns down, a puppy dog gets run over – all are harms thrown at us by life.

People Do Evil to Us

“All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.” Psalm 56:5-6

- Did you hear about the woman who was bitten by a rabid dog, and it looked like she was going to die from rabies. The doctor told her to put her final affairs in order. So the woman took pen and paper, and began writing furiously. In fact she wrote and wrote and wrote. Finally the doctor said, "That sure is a long will you’re making." She snorted, "Will, nothing! I’m making a list of all the people I’m going to bite!"

- Pitcher throwing inside. Sometimes the pitcher hits you accidentally. Other times, he’s trying to take your ears off.

We Do Evil to Ourselves

We do all kinds of evil, mischief, harm, hurt, misery to ourselves. When you do harm to yourself, whether we’re talking about physical harm, emotional harm, or spiritual harm, you also inevitably hurt those around you. But there are two people you hurt by this evil that I want to focus on this morning. When I do evil to myself, it hurts those around me and it hurts me.