YOU ARE ENGRAVED IN THE HANDS OF GOD

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:14-16

Welcome to another New Year, the Year 2021! I believe some of you may be having the thoughts that the Lord forgot about you in the past year because of what you went through. Things didn't go the way you expected. You might have lost a loved one, lost your business or your job, or your health deteriorated. Because of this, you may be saying the say thing as Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 

But has the Lord really forsaken you? Indeed, He has not! He says in Isaiah 46:15a, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Mothers have a special bond for their babies because they carrry them for nine months in their wombs and they nurture them when they are delivered. It is unsual to find a mother who does care for her baby but it does happen where some mothers abandon their children for whatever reason. So even with this special bond, mothers can sometimes forget their youn ones but the Lord, who is compassionate in love, never ever will forget His own, especially, those who are called by His name. So if you have made the Lord God, the master and Lord over your life, He is assuring you today that "Though she (a mother) may forget, I will not forget you! (Isaiah 46:15b). Why? Because He has engraved you in His hands. "See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Isaiah 49:16

To engrave means to make a deep mark on something. To engrave is to etch into some material or object. So it means leaving a permanent or lasting mark on that object. So for you to be engraved in the palms or hands of the Living God is no small thing. It means God will always remember you because you are always in His thoughts. He will never leave you nor forsake you. "Behold I am with you always even to the end of ages." So what is the implication of this? It means that we should not fear what the future holds because the good Lord is in control and He who has began the good work in your life will bring it to completion through Christ Jesus. Amen!

Because you are engraved in God's hands you can reassured that everything that you encounter in this life, whether good or bad, will all work for your good. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 

So if you are genuinely called by God and you obey and do His will, He will ensure that all things will turn out well for you. O what a blessed assurance!

Joseph who encountered diverse challenges starting with his brothers, Portiphar's wife and finally life in prison, became a prime minister of Egypt. Through all these challenges, he knew that he was engraved in the hands of God, so everything would at the end turn out for good. So when he encountered his brothers in Egypt he told them in Genesis 50:19-20 that "Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Genesis 50:14-21

David also knew that he was engraved in the hands of God so he could say in Psalm 23 that "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want..........................Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.........."

Paul also wrote in the book of Romans 8:38-39 (NIV) that "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He could only say that because he understood what it means to be engraved in the hands of God. He understood that all things will work out for his good since he loved the Lord and the Lord loves him. 

This is the assurance that we have if we understand that we are engraved in God's hands.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,  Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— Isaiah 43:2-6

"But now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.             Isaiah 44:1-3

When you are engraved in God's hands, you are special and chosen amongst the few. 

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Isaiah 41:8-9

I pray that this year, you will come to the understanding that the LORD is on your side because He has engraved you with an indelible mark in His hand. He cares about you and will work day and night to ensure that you are victorious in the days ahead. Just keep trusting in Him and never lose faith. Amen!

LEADERSHIP LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE CREATION STORY

Genesis 1 (New International Version)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Leadership lessons

• Vision: God had the ultimate aim to create man in His own image. To do this, He had a well laid out plan. He had His vision or aim of how the final outcome should be or look. (Gen 1:27-28)
• Surveyor: (Genesis 1:2) He surveyed the earth and noticed that it was without form and void and something had to be done about it. A leader should be able to identify situations in life that need to be attended to. A leader must be a problem solver.
• Planner: God was sequential in the way He created the heavens and the earth. He created the sun to provide energy that the plant would need first and then the animals/fishes that would feed on the plants, and finally human beings who would need the animals and plants for food. Everything was done step by step. First thing first! The leader must therefore have strategies developed to help arrive at the vision and goals.. So the leader should have a mission for his vision. The mission are the series of steps that lead to the vision.
• Evaluation: On the seventh day, God rested having seen that all that He had created was good. A leader should always sit back to evaluate his/her plans and to make modifications where possible. The leader should be ready to give an account to his followers at all times. He should also know that on the judgement day, he/she will stand before the throne of Grace to give a final account to the Lord. 
• Designer: God loves beauty and perfection. He made sure that everything that He created was good and beautiful. Just look around you! Just look at the diversity of creatures in the air, sea and on land. A Christian leader must strive for perfection and excellence in all things.
• Growth and development: God said to man, "Be fruitful and multiply......." This means that God demands that we grow and multiply in all aspects of our lives.  A leader, therefore, must be able to develop the minds of his/her followers and to make them very productive. A leader is therefore a vision setter and a change maker.

May the Lord reveal more about Christian leadership to you as you delve more into His word.

THE MARK OF A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST

13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Jesus Announces the Good News
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus Calls His First Disciples
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:13-20 New International Version

In Matthew 28:19-20, we are all called to be disciples of Christ and to go out into the world to make disciples of all nations. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The following are the hallmarks of a true disciple of Christ

• Obedience is one mark of a Christian. The disciples obey Christ and left their nets to follow him.
• Must be called by Christ. The calling by Christ is a call of separation just as Abraham was called to come out of his family.
• Sacrifice: The true disciple must forsake the self. You cannot be truly committed to the master, Jesus, if you do not forgo the self and its gratifications.
• Conforming to the image of Christ: To follow the master, Jesus, the true disciple must conform to His very image. This means always emulating Him in every areas of life.

" And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." Romans 8:28-29

• Evangelism: The disciple of Christ is required to be productive and to show growth whilst at the same time winning others to Christ and developing them spiritually. The growth of the church requires disciples not church members.

May the Lord help us to become true disciples of Christ who are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

THE IRONY OF LIFE