In His Tender Hand: Unsnatchable You

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24, NKJV).

If this is the day that He has made, does it follow that this is the year that He has made? Did God actually make 2020?

Yes. He did.

Did God orchestrate a worldwide pandemic, social upheaval, and vast economic suffering? No. He did not. Darkness cannot come forth from pure light. However, did He allow it? Yes. He did. Think about this. He also allowed the political and religious leadership of Jesus’ day to kill His beloved Son. At that time, Jesus asserted in quiet confidence to Pilate that he would not have been able to do it if not allowed to do so by God.

God is absolutely sovereign over everything that is happening right now. The chaos in the world today does not represent Him falling off His throne. His supreme rule continues, unchallenged. I am not going to pretend to understand all of His thoughts about what we, the population of the earth, are currently suffering. But I deeply, deeply, deeply trust the goodness of His heart. (About that, by the way, my husband and daughter have still not been able to return home. We have now been apart for nearly four months as a result of the lockdown in Peru. And yes! I deeply, deeply trust my Daddy God in this!).

“My times are in Your hand” (Ps. 31:15, NKJV).

My times… my 2020, and every year that follows it, are in His hand. I am in His hand. You are in His hand. Your family is in His hand. Everything that matters to you is in His hand.

Notice that the word is singular: “hand.” God doesn’t even need both hands to carefully hold and protect everything that is precious to you. “Single-handedly” describes His infinite ability quite well. You and your loved ones are safe. You really are completely safe in Him.

In this season, I am reminded of what Job said to his wife about their heartaches. He, too spoke of the hand of God. He recognized that their entire existence was held within His hand. He pointedly asked her, “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10, NLT).

Now, this does not mean that the anguish that befell them originated in God, in whom there is no evil. The story clearly tells us that satan was the destroyer behind every aspect of their tragedy. (That continues to be the case today.) What Job was instead expressing was his utter trust that his personal world remained fully in the hand of the Sovereign One. He was expressing his surrender to Him, during an indescribably agonizing time.

If the character of God were cruel, then we could all say that Job was insane. If His character were questionable, we would all be justified by responding as Job’s wife did. But it’s not. His character is immeasurably, immutably kind.  “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5, NKJV). This is the foundation and essence of His nature: pure, unadulterated love. We can deeply, deeply, deeply trust the goodness of His heart.

There is a hand that is holding you. What kind of hand, then, is it? Do you know, in the core of you, how tender it is? If you truly know, then you, too, can surrender to the perfect care of your Daddy. If you truly know how kind He is, then you, too, can receive all things from His hand.

“…They will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29, NLT).

Yes, God made 2020. Even in the midst of suffering, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us rejoice and be glad in the love of the One who will never, ever let us go.

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When you imagine God’s hand, what do you see?