Whether or not you are, or were, a Beatles fan, at one time, or, more probably, many times, you have heard the song, “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll tell you somethin’
I think you’ll understand
When I say that somethin’
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand.”
Infinitely better than that is that God wants to hold your hand! He said, ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will up hold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (NASB).
Hands serve some special needs. Hand are useful for grasping things, carrying peanuts from jar to jaw, opening pickle jars, and many other things, some good and some bad. Think about the hands of a pianist; the hands of a carpenter; the hands of a surgeon; the hands of a blacksmith – all trained and prepared for special work.
But today let’s consider just three things God does with His hands.
First we will read our text: “ And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?" And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around." Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.” Mark 8:22-25 (NASB)
1. HE LOVES US WITH HIS HANDS:
a. The text demonstrates the love Jesus had for the blind man. He was moved by compassion at the request of his friends who brought him to Jesus and Jesus was moved by the man’s plight. Look at some of the other ways and times when He showed love with His hand:
i. When Jesus met the blind or lame or demon posed or even the leprous, his touch was healing. One leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” Matthew 8:2-3 (NASB).
ii. When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. “He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him.” Matthew 8:14-15 (NASB).
iii. He expressed love through the touch of Hs hands.
b. A touch can express love in a way words cannot. Bear with me while I tell you again about a gentle touch of love. I was in the Childers’ Barn helping with the raspberry harvest and sales. I was having one of my Parkinson’s bad days. I felt like I had died and nobody had buried me. As I was seated a few feet behind the counter a family came in to u-pick. Their little girl walked through the door and without hesitation she immediately came behind the counter with a definite purpose. She walked right over to where I was seated. Without a word, she laid her little hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. I smiled at her and asked, “Did you want anything?” She smiled and said, “No” and walked away Later they came in to pay for their berries and I asked the little girl how old she was and she said, “Three.” I asked her for her name and was blown away when she said, “Grace.” Not only was she named Grace, but to me, in that low moment, she was grace embodied. Some say, “Pfff. What’s so great about that?” Let me say, “You be in a purple funk and have a tiny little girl put her tiny hand on your shoulder and smile at you and then tell me it is no big deal.” Her touch was grace to me- it brought me a feeling of being loved.
c. The song by Michael Combs said,
“That same hand that formed the mountains
That same hand that made the sea
That same hand that stilled the fountains<
That same hand reached down to me.”
d. Think about it:
i. When something happened to break your heart, despite the fact that we thought life would never be good, how comforting was the loving hand of your mother or father?
ii. And what about those times when human touch was inadequate? Did you sense His hand touching you? Once my mother was in the hospital given about 24 hours to live. I had to leave for an hour or so and when I stepped into the elevator, I was engulfed in warm joy and peace and an assurance she would live. When I returned, she was sitting up in bed and I was told that she had coughed and said, “I feel so much better now.” We took her home and she lived a few more years. The loving hand of God had touched her with healing and me with hope!
iii. When you feel like an utter failure; when you feel that if you were King Midas or rather Kin MUDas you’d turn everything you touch to mud, can you remember a time when God’s touch loved you back to confidence?
iv. Jesus has a touch of gentle, willing, powerful, healing love.
e. I recently read about a school teacher who asked her first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. But she knew that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys on tables with food. The teacher was taken aback with the picture Douglas handed in a simple, childishly drawn hand.
But whose hand? This class made guesses. “I think it must be God”s hand that brings us food,” said one child. “A farmer,” said another, “because he grows the turkeys.” Finally when the others were back at work the teacher bent over Douglas”s desk and asked whose hand it was. “It”s your hand, Teacher,” he mumbled.
She recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child, by the hand. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. To him her hands were hands of love. (Author Unknown, Stories from the Heart) .
Our Father still touches us with loving hands, and then
2. HE LIFTS US WITH HIS HANDS:
a. Once He places His hands of love upon us, He then is able to lift us up higher than we’ve ever been before. David testified to that, saying, “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” Psalm 40:2 (NASB).
b. He lifted the blind man
i. From darkness to light.
ii. From helplessness to more independence.
iii. From the stigma of being a beggar to the status of being accepted in the community.
c. He lifts us from a pit to a rock.
i. He lifts us from the pit of despair to the rock of hope. He lifts us from the pit of fear to the rock of courage.
ii. He lifts us from the pit of defeat to the rock of victory.
iii. He lifts us from whatever pit we are in, to whatever rock we need.
iv. Just as we think we are sinking in the miry clay, He lifts us.
d. Peter wasn’t sinking in a pit, but when he tried to walk on water on the Sea of Galilee, he began to sink and “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” Matthew 14:31 (NASB).
i. The song put it like this
“That same hand that lifted Peter
As he sank down in the sea
That same hand, O I remember
That same hand lifted me.”
ii. So, please remember and be encouraged.
(1) When you are stuck in a pit of misery, His hand can lift you out.
(2) When you are sinking in the sea of trouble, He can lift you.
(3) When you are so low you have to reach up to touch bottom, He can lift you.
(4) When you feel so small that you could sit on a dime and swing your legs, He can lift you.
e. There is a touching story about being lifted up. Back in 1918, a boy named Howard Loomis was abandoned by his mother at Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys, which had opened just a year earlier. Howard had polio and wore heavy leg braces. Walking was difficult for him, especially when he had to go up or down steps.
Soon, several of the Home’s older boys were carrying Howard up and down the stairs.
One day, Father Flanagan asked Reuben Granger, one of those older boys, if carrying Howard was too hard. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s my’ brother.”
Jesus doesn’t think we are too heavy, either, so He lifts us and then.
3. HE LEADS US WITH HIS HAND:
a. He led the blind manout of the village and He will lead us. There is nowhere you can be that puts you beyond the hand of God. So David asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.” Psalm 139:7-10 (NASB).
b. We are like sheep and we need to be led aright or we will be led astray. We ought to say, as did David, “He leads me to luscious green pastures, along quiet, peaceful waters, through the dark valley and to His house where I will live with Him forever.”
c. I think about a trusting child lifting a hand to be grasped in a larger one with the trust that that hand will lead the little one safely to the destination. Woe to us if we mislead!
d. I recently purchased a Rand McNally GPS because it was less expensive than Garmin. For a couple of months it was wonderful, then it conspired with the map provider to get us lost somewhere. First I noticed it saying, “Left Curve” when it was really a Right Curve. To further its delinquency, It would tell me to turn left when it should have said turn right. We would set it up for somewhere in Albany, and it would tell us it was 24 miles away going east on Hwy 226. I called them and after over an hour on the phone insisted they replace, repair or refund. It’s in their shop right now. But take heart – The hand of Jesus will never mislead.
e. Whatever trouble or pain or sorrow or sickness that comes or way, God wants to hold our hands.
i. “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.” Psalm 37:23-24 (NASB).
ii. “He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep His covenant and obey His demands.” Psalm 25:9-10 (NLT2).
iii. “For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’” Isaiah 41:13 (NASB).
Hold out your hand today and He will grasp it firmly but kindly, strongly but gently, eagerly but patiently. He holds out His hand waiting for you to grasp it.
Fanny Crosby wrote this poem:
“Hold Thou my hand; so weak I am, and helpless,
I dare not take one step without Thy aid;
Hold Thou my hand; for then, o loving Savior,
no dread of ill shall make my soul afraid.
Hold Thou my hand, and closer, closer draw me
to Thy dear self --- my hope, my joy, my all;
Hold Thou my hand, lest haply I should wander,
and, missing Thee, my trembling feet shall fall.”
Hold Thou my hand; the way is dark before me
without the sunlight of Thy face divine;
but when by faith I catch its radiant glory,
what heights of joy, what rapturous songs are mine!
Hold Thou my hand, that when I reach the margin
of that lone river Thou didst cross for me,
a heavenly light may flash along its waters,
and every wave like crystal bright shall be.”
---Fanny J. Crosby
He knows you are weak and helpless; He remembers that the way is dark before you; He knows that you dread that lone river, and He longs for you to put your hand in His.
This could be the day, the hour, the moment. This could be the last chance you will ever have to give Jesus your hand and to grasp His. Come now. Come humbly. Come with the little faith you do have. Come just as you are and put your hand in His.
