Who's Holding Your Hand?

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord; And He delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Or his descendants begging bread" (Psalm37:23-25).

Psalm 37 is basically a chapter that talks about the security of those who trust the Lord and the insecurity of the wicked. Here in these verses we read a verse that a lot of us have heard quoted several times during our Christian walk (vs.23). Different Bible versions say it in different ways but it remains the same message and that is that the Lord is watching after us, step by step, moment by moment, each day of our lives. There is not an incident or time in our lives that He is not aware of and prepared for. And isn't it good to know that our steps are "ordered by the Lord" helping us to understand how close He is to us all the time. Listen to this verse in Psalm 40:2 "He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm." And He is delighted.

Most parents can relate to the next verse. Your walking down the street holding onto your little child's hand and suddenly his or her feet just seem to give way underneath them and you find yourself holding them, literally off the ground, by the one hand, body dangling until you steady the child upright and plant him or her once again on both feet. That's how I invision God in verse 24, holding onto us. Since we are His children, He is holding onto us by our hand and every now and then, something happens that knocks our feet out from under us and we are caught "dangling" between good & bad, right & wrong, helpless and waiting to be set afoot by the Lord. Did you know that Proberbs 24 says that a "righteous man falls seven times, and rises again?" Seven times, the number of perfection. Who else would you rather be holding your hand?

I feel like I can relate to verse 25 "I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken." I cannot tell you how many hospital beds I have stood beside as I have watched a Christian man or woman leave this world but I can tell you that I have never had one of them grab me by the arm and try to delay their union with the Lord. We are not forsaken for we are God's righteous even unto death. Check out verse 28. "For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever; But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off." Don't care to be there.

Are you sometimes frightened? Does the direction of the world give you pause? Are you wondering what in the world is going on? It's in God's Word. And, praise the Lord, maybe we can experience His return first hand. But never lose sight of the fact that it is He who has hold of your hand, and His promise is to "not forsake His godly ones."

The Bible says in Romans 10:9,10 "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Need to know more? Click here and read the 4 Spiritual Laws.

Dave