There is a song by Holly Dunn that talks about her Dad’s hands and what they meant to her as a child. It seemed that his hands were used for good purposes in her life, but some of that included discipline at his hands. Eventually, she realized that whether his hands were soft and gentle or hard as steel, they were always used in love.
Daddy's Hands
Daddy's hands were soft and kind
when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel
when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always
gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s
hands.
There are plenty of scriptures that speak about God’s hands in creation, the world and in our lives. Though Ezra’s belief of the living God was deep in his heart, it is quite another thing to confess it out loud to another man, especially if that man is an unbeliever who is a powerful man of status. Ezra spoke to King Artaxerxes, the king ruling over most of the ‘known’ world at that time, and stated his belief in the hand of God:
For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them that seek (search out; strive after; desire) him, for good; but his power (strength) and his wrath (anger) is against all them that forsake him. Ezra (Forsake- relinquish (withdraw from, leave); leave entirely, abandon, depart from, reject)
So Ezra didn’t want to ask the king for help against their enemies, because the Israelis had told him that the hand of God was strong enough to protect them. His hand is good (bountiful, in favor, gracious, kind, loving, prosperous) to those who seek Him. To those who forsake Him however, they are cold as steel in judgment. All through the Old Testament we see where God’s judgment fell upon the people who disobeyed.
So we see that we can choose which side of the Father’s hands we experience by choosing to strive after Him or choosing to reject Him. It has always been our choice. The Father wants us to be His children, He desires a relationship with us, but our position as children is one of learning beneath ‘His hand’ which includes discipline if we disobey. As parents, many of us understand the need for discipline and it is not simply getting a child to do as told, rather, an attempt at having the child learn an important lesson needed for further maturity. So, we have these two:
God’s hand of protection (Is. 51:16; 49:2)
God’s hands of judgment (Ps. 111:7; Ez. )
What is your preference?