Reading the life in a pair of hands.

“‘Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands…”

Isaiah 49:16a (CSB)

Recently, I realized that I have my grandmother’s hands.  I have my father’s hands too.  They’re short and stubby.  My mother’s hands are long and strong; hers always look so elegant.  I’ve rather envied her those hands.  My fingers are crooked, no doubt from the many times I jammed my fingers while playing basketball and volleyball growing up.  I can still recall that sharp stab of pain from the ball hitting the tips just wrong.  If I try to squeeze my fingers next to each other, there is always a space between my middle finger and my ring finger.  

I realized that I had my dad’s hands when he taught me how to change the headlights in my car.  Trying to squeeze one’s hand amidst the wires and battery and various bits of the car’s interior is difficult, but I learned that my hands, though similar in shape to my father’s, were still just a little more slender and able to squeeze in to adjust the headlight.

The callus on my right middle finger, developed from holding my pencil just so, started getting dry again recently.  While I was studying my hands and rubbing lotion in, I realized I had Grandma’s hands too.  Not quite as weathered perhaps, but I know what they will look like in 50 years. 

I think that a person’s hands can tell you a great deal about their life.  Soft or rough.  Weak or strong.  Manicured or plain.  Young or old.  Smooth or wrinkled.  The skin of my hands will crack along the knuckles with the winter cold because I forget to wear gloves.  My nails are always cut to the quick because I don’t like taking care of them when they’re long.  The ring on my right hand was a gift from my parents nearly 15 years ago.  There’s a scar on the pad of my right palm from when I dropped a glass platter when I was 7.  

I’ve rambled on now for four paragraphs just talking about hands.  An odd quirk to be sure, but I find hands to be fascinating.  This fascination reminds me of some of Isaiah’s writings.  In chapter 49, God speaks to the Israelites and says, “‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb?  Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.  Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands…’” (15-16a).  God is reassuring the Israelites that He has not forgotten them.  They had turned their hearts away from God, but He had remained faithful and just.  In the midst of their sorrow, they asked God if He had forgotten them.  The answer was always “no.”

“‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb?  Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.  Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands…’”

Isaiah 49: 15-16a

God uses the imagery of a mother with her child, and says even if a mother forgot her child, He would not forget them.  He likens Himself as a parent to Israel, so how could he possibly forget them?  Like a parent, He would discipline them in love, but He would never forget them.  God goes so far as to say, “‘…I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands…’” (Isa. 49:16a).  To inscribe something means it is cut or engraved.  I think of a stone having words cut into it.  This is a permanent and intentional act.  If something were engraved upon the skin of your palms you would see it all the time; you would never forget it.

When we get to the New Testament, we see another significant moment when Jesus tells the Jews in the temple, “‘I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.  No one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all.  No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29).  Jesus makes Himself equal with God the Father here as He makes several other bold claims such as He grants those who believe in Him eternal life, they will never perish, and they cannot be snatched out of His hand nor out of the Father’s hand.  

Following Isaiah’s words, we see this continued imagery of the Father’s hands.  Before He inscribed His people on His hands, never forgetting them.  In this image, we see that He holds His people in His hands, never letting them go, cherishing them.  I think, “Of course, we cannot be taken from Jesus’s hands; we have been inscribed into their very palms.”

No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

John 10:29b

When Jesus was crucified, the physical restraints put marks into the very skin of His hands.  They left an indelible mark that would never be removed.  The words God spoke to the Israelites in Isaiah become a physical reality on the hands of Jesus – God Incarnate.  

When Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to His disciples reassuring them and giving them final instructions before He ascended to heaven.  One disciple, Thomas, needed a little more assurance though.  He said, “‘If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe’” (John 20:25b).  Thankfully, Jesus understands our limitations, and I can only imagine the compassion He had for Thomas.  When Jesus next appeared to the disciples and Thomas, He said, “‘Put your finger here and look at my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Don’t be faithless, but believe.” (20:27).  

Look at my hands.  

The hands that God told the Israelites in Isaiah were inscribed with their names.  The hands that would never allow us to be snatched away.  The hands that were nailed to the cross.  The hands that bear the scars, engraved upon the skin, for all time.  

How could God forget us?  Quite literally, He can’t.  He bears the scars for our punishment and His faithfulness upon His resurrected body.  

Jesus told Thomas, “‘Because you have seen me, you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’” (John 20:29).  I have not physically seen the resurrected Christ, but I believe in Him.  I trust Him to always hold me in the palm of His hand.  I trust Him to never forget me.  And the next time I am caught by the details of my hands – the lines, the scars, the movement of muscle and bone– I can recall another pair of hands and the story of hope and life that they offer us all.

Look at my hands.

John 20:27