We Are ON God’s Hands
Scripture: Psalm 27:13; John 14:27, 1; James 1:2; Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 49:15-17
The title of today’s message is “We are ON God’s Hands.” Yes, you heard me correctly. The title is “We are ON God’s Hands” and you’ll understand it clearly as we progress through the message.
David said, “I would have fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13) This Scripture has been ministering to me for several weeks and I want to preface this message with it this morning. As you can see I am delivering this message from my office in my home. While we reopened the Church last month and have taken every precaution to ensure everyone’s safety, the positivity rate within our community has rapidly and steadily increased. Because of this, and my desire to keep everyone safe, I have made the decision to once again shut down our live services for the next 4-6 weeks to hopefully allow our community to once again see a decline in the rise positive Covid-19 cases. We cannot minimize what is happening around us and we must be diligent to ensure we are all doing our best for those around us. For this reason, and the constant strain we are all under because of this virus, what David said resonates continually with me. You see, any of us could have given up by now if we did not believe that we would see the goodness of the Lord in the land in which we live. I believe that we will see it! I am confident of it!
This message this morning is one of encouragement and hopefully a public service announcement encouraging each of you not to take this virus lightly and to wear a mask when you are out of your homes. On April 5th, the first Sunday in April, I delivered a message to you from this office titled “Be Encourage.” You will hear some of the same things I told you in that message this morning because this will be a difficult week for some people. When I delivered that message the state of Kansas had just went on lockdown. A month before, the global death toll was 200. When I delivered that message, the death toll in the United States was 1500, many of which were from New York. Our Nation was experiencing something that many alive today had never seen. This morning I want to revisit this because this is the week of Thanksgiving and many are struggling to find a reason to be thankful. Since the first Sunday in April, more than 250,000 additional U.S. citizens have died leaving many families with an empty place setting at their Thanksgiving dinner this year, if they actually have one. This Thanksgiving will be different from any Thanksgiving celebration that we have seen before.
When we entered into 2020, none of us, and I mean none of us, could have anticipated, or ever would have imagined what this year would bring because of COVID-19. Who could have imagined that parts of our country would be shut down or public gatherings so severely curtailed as to make normal recreational activities almost non-existent? Who could have imagined that workers, who had stable and dependable jobs, would lose their jobs because of the virus? Who could have imagined that 2020 would be a year where drug and alcohol use and suicides attempts and successes would increase at rates previously unheard of in this country? Who could have imagined that the athletes in Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NFL would be playing to nearly empty stadiums and arenas? Who could have imagined governors prohibiting religious gatherings? Who could have imagined that the only restaurant food one could get would have to be ordered and then be delivered to their homes? Who could have imagined stores running out of everyday items that we now no longer seem to take for granted? And who could have imagined that there are conversations being held in governors’ offices all across our country about cancelling or significantly limiting Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings?
New Light, this is why people are scared, stressed, and frustrated about being scared and stressed. It’s no wonder that people feel a sense of uncertainty about the future. And it’s no wonder that people are searching for answers through organizations like the psychic hotline – looking for answers in all the wrong places. And for those who say they are Christians, they are looking for men and women who function in the prophetic office to give them answers or point them in the right direction. But I’m here to tell you New Light, our Father knew this time would come and He loves us so much that He gave us instructions on how to deal with a world that, right now, seems to be turned upside down. As I said, this morning, as I did when the Nation first shut down, I want to encourage you. I want to remind you of some things I told you back in April because I believe that if we apply what we read and hear our hearts and minds, from this day forward, will be less stressful, feel less uncertainty, be encouraged and will experience the peace that Jesus promised us in John 14:27 when He said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus said He would give us peace that is different from the peace the world attempts to give us. Have you ever thought about the difference between the peace that the world gives versus the peace that Jesus left for us? Here is the difference: The world’s peace is based on things being okay in our lives. Jesus’ peace is based on Him regardless of what is going on in our lives. The decision as to which peace we seek will determine if we have any peace at all. Why do I say this? I say this because the world’s peace is a false sense of security because the world is ever changing. Jesus’ peace offers true security because He never changes. So when He said that the peace He gives is different from the peace of the world, He was telling us to put our trust in His peace only.
This is the second time in John chapter fourteen that Jesus says “Let not your heart be troubled.” Look at verse 1: “Let not your heart be troubled …” And what I want you to see this morning is why Jesus says this is possible. “.…you believe in God, believe also in Me.” So the question, when we’re really honest, is do we really believe in God? If we really don’t believe in God; in His promises; in Him honoring His Word; it will be impossible for us to believe in Jesus, and this means it will be impossible for us to access the peace that He has left us. I want to point out one word in this verse and it’s the word “in.” It means “a point reached or entered.” In other words, you have reached a place of certainty because of your relationship. When Jesus says “believe in God,” He’s telling us that we need to develop a relationship with God that cannot be shaken; that cannot be questioned. No one will be able to stop us from trusting God in everything. When we reach that place New Light, Jesus says then we can believe “in” Him the same way.
Turn with me to James 1:2. It says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” We know that the word “temptation” means “test or trial.” All tests and trials are designed to get us to give in to our emotions and not believe what the Bible says. They are designed to get us to question God’s goodness and love for us, and more importantly, to get us to turn our backs on God altogether and leave the faith. Our enemy knows his job and is good at it. We have all seen each of these responses in people this year. Now, sometimes, those tests can be really, really trying like COVID-19 because they appear to never end. And we know that we go through seasons when sometimes the test is more trying than others. For Christians who are not in a “summer or warmer” season, COVID-19 has been much more difficult for them. And, let’s be honest, many of us are finding it very difficult to find joy right now or to be thankful. But James says joy is possible – even during a pandemic. But Jesus says if we believe in God and in Him, we will have peace. I want the peace New Light.
As I shared with you previously, there is not one test, not one trial that we are ever going to go through alone. Amen! We are not going through anything alone. But Satan wants us to think that when we face the trials and tests, we are facing them alone. And honestly, sometimes we have felt that way haven’t we? But our Heavenly Father wants it to be very clear to us that that’s not the case. Remember how David said that believing that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living kept him from giving up? (If you have not caught on, I am trying my best to cement those words in your spirits to carry you into 2021!) What we’re going to see in this particular message is that God loves us more than we realize. And that whenever we think that we are alone, whenever we think the enemy has gotten the best of us, God says “No – he has not defeated you!” The issue is this: as we’re going through the trial, as we’re going through the test, as we’re going through this pandemic, do we believe that God is with us as we are going through it? And I want to emphasize something: the environment we find ourselves in today is not forever and if we believe in God and in Jesus, we are going through it. We’re not camping. We’re not staying. We are going through it. It means we are constantly moving – not staying in that place of despair. This is the same resolve that David had when he wrote in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil …” David did not say, “though I stay in the valley of death”, he understood that his situation was temporary and he had to keep moving. We are always going to have issues that we’re going to have to go through. COVID-19 will not be the last. Why? Satan doesn’t stop. But we must remember: God is always with us.
Now, turn with me to Isaiah 49. I really believe that this is a passage that is going to bless us because it’s going to help us see that no matter the situation, no matter what it looks like, we’re not fighting it by ourselves. God is always right there by our side holding our hand. The book of Isaiah is a book of prophesy, primarily about Jesus, the Messiah, and then about His Church. As we read these passages, yes, it’s talking about Zion, it’s talking about Israel, it’s talking about Jacob, but they are prophecies that relate to us and who we are now as the body of Christ. Isaiah 49 talks about the coming Messiah, the trials He’s going to face at the hand of Zion, the Jews, and Him eventually coming out victorious. Remember this part – He’s going to come out victorious. Let’s read verses thirteen and fourteen. “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. 14But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.’” (Isaiah 49:13-14) There were times when I felt this way and I knew, in my heart, that God had not forsaken me. But we have that sinking feeling sometimes and we have to remind ourselves that what we’re experiencing is not from our Father and that it is coming from the enemy of our souls. That’s when we need to bring our minds back to God’s Word.
Let’s continue with verse 15, you should remember this verse from the message I delivered when the nation first shut down. It says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15) The first time the word “woman” was used was by Adam when he said God has brought him woman, who was now bone of his bone. In other words, the woman was the wife of the man. A better rendering of the word in the context would have been “mother.” The word “forget” means “to ignore, cease to care for.” God is asking is it possible for a mother cease to forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the child of her womb. Is that possible? As I shared with you before, the image the phrase “nursing child” presents is one of a child being totally dependent upon his mother for everything. Without the mother, the child would be helpless. Without the mother, the child would be all alone. And God says it’s possible for a mother to forget the child at her breast. Yes, that’s possible. But it is IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME for forget My children, the ones who are totally dependent upon Me! And we see this in the word “not,” which expresses an unconditional prohibition. I want you to get a picture of what God is saying. When a mother has a child, that child is the most important thing to her. Every time the child cries, the mother responds. Every time the child is hungry, the mother responds. There is never a time when that child is out of that mother’s sight. When it comes to her child, the mother has tunnel vision. And God says He loves us and cares for us just like that mother, who has tunnel vision, whose child is the most important thing in her life. But he says there is a possibility that she could forget about her child, that she could ignore them, that she could cease to care for them. And it’s not always on purpose. Sometimes a mother can get so busy that she is not paying close attention to her child and the child gets out of her eye sight. But God says “That will never happen with Me. Never!” Our Father says we are never away from Him. He always sees us. He always knows where we are. Let that sink in as we continue “going through” this pandemic during the holiday season.
But God did not stop there. In verse sixteen He makes a statement that is simply amazing to me New Light. He says, “Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:16) In April I told you that your name is tattooed in the palm of God’s hands. This morning I want you to see this differently. I want you to see yourself ON God’s hands! Every single one of us! Now, I may have missed it, and I’m sure there are people who have done this, but I have never seen a person with a tattoo on the palms of their hands. Have you? The palm of the hand is one of the most, if not the most, sensitive parts of the body. A person who puts a tattoo on his or her hand really wants to have it because of what it means to them. And they do this knowing it’s going to hurt like really bad. In ancient Palestine, when a person wanted to remember something very dear to him or sacred, he would tattoo it on his arm or forearm. God has tattooed us on His palms! We are ON His hands! There is nothing more dear to Him than us! Praise God! So God is saying, “Listen, I love you so much that I have placed you in a place where it will be impossible for Me not to see you. You are ON My hands. Every time I look at my hands, I see your “walls,” which refers to faces that are under His protection. God says “I want you to know that every time I look at My hands, I see you. And when I see you, you can rest assured that I am there with you.” Understand this New Light: there is nothing more important to God than us – His children. Nothing. We are so important to Him that He carries us with Him. Do you see this? Because He has tattooed us on the palms of His hand, God carries us with Him wherever He goes! What a comfort. What a peace.
I want to close this morning with what was recorded in Hebrews 12:1-3. It says, “Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily ensnare us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. 2Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3For consider Him that endured such hostility of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.” What the writer says here is that we are surrounded by a history of saints who never gave up. We have a history of saints who believed in and trusted in God. Those were the ones listed in Hebrews chapter eleven. The writer reminds us of them and then tells us to lay aside everything that would ensnare us and run our race with patience. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith and when we examine what He went through for us, it should strengthen us to stay the course.
I pray this message has been a blessing and a source of encouragement for you today. I know that the trial I focused on in this message was the pandemic, but some of us are battling physical trials and what we have just read today applies to those as well. If this is you, please know in the depths of your heart that God knows your battle and that you are not going through it alone. And that’s why we need to remind ourselves that we believe in God. Nothing can move us away from believing His goodness, His love, and His healing power. During the times of trials and tests, that is our declaration. That is our confession. I thank God, New Light, that we are ON His hands! I hope that each of you will have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving celebration however you choose to celebrate it.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(Based on the rise in COVID-19 cases in the Kansas Metro area, we are returning to virtual services for the next 4-6 weeks. Please join us through Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m. or via our website www.newlightchristian.org. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
