God’s Handiwork
Wednesday (December 3)
God’s Handiwork
Psalm 90:17
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
Today, I’d like to sit down and finish writing a song that has been rolling around in my head for a while now, but there’s a stash of bills that won’t pay themselves, and there’s a pile of dirty dishes sitting on the counter due to our dishwasher being broken, and there’s an adorable little baby clawing at my leg because she wants her sixth meal of the day, and there’s a ten-year-old son who can’t drive himself to football practice, and there’s a load of emails I’m behind on, and there’s a bat infestation above our garage that needs immediate attention; oh, and there are also devotionals like these that I need to turn in to Chad, our editor, before the deadline. Now, I write all of that with a wink, but the fact remains: I’m behind today, and behind this week, and generally behind in life. There are multiple occupations and chores and activities that need fulfilling from day to day, but I’ve got two niggling problems that prick at me like a thorn in the flesh: first, that I’ve only got two hands to work with, and second, that those two hands are not always up to the task.
Almighty God doesn’t have that problem though, does He? In fact, when we look for a moment at His hands—I mean those human hands—we see two identical wounds engraved in them. Wounds that eternally mark His favor over our lives, whether we feel ahead or far behind. Wounds that eternally establish our place in the story as sons and daughters of promise. Wounds that not only drown out all our sin and weakness and deficiency but that immerse us into purpose and meaning and vitality. Oh friend, never forget today that the toil of your hands is written in the triumph of your Savior’s!
If you start to get overwhelmed by that pile of laundry or bills or dishes and you’re tempted to follow that quitter’s impulse to just sit this one out, pray Psalm 90:17 to the enduring One Who empathizes with your struggle: “Establish the work of my hands; yes, establish the work of my hands!” Because He will.