Engraving

Recently a sweet friend of mine shared this insightful and very encouraging devotional with me as well as a few others.  Not only is the Lord's timing amazingly perfect, but the gentleness in which He nudges the soul always leaves me awestruck and humbled.

I needed this, no rather my soul needed this more than I realized. Lately I have been wearing a rut into my heart with all the going back and forth questions, most of them being "Why?". This stopped me dead in my tracts and the Lord opened my eyes to see the folly in my way of thinking and the goodness of His truth.

My prayer is that you too will be encouraged and your soul soothed by this timeless, and timely, devotional.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. - Isa 49:16  

No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the word “Behold,” is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me! My God has forgotten me.” How amazed the divine mind seems to be—at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favored people?

The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, “How can I have forgotten you—when I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?” O unbelief, how strange a marvel you are! We know not which most to wonder at, the faithfulness of God—or the unbelief of His people! He keeps His promise a thousand times and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapor and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert.

“Behold,” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling! Heaven and earth may well be astonished, that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love, as to be engraved upon the palms of His hands. “I have engraved you.” It does not say, “Your name.” The name is there but that is not all, “I have engraved you.” See the fullness of this! I have engraved your person, your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your needs, your works! I have engraved you, everything about you, all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there. Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you—when He has engraved you upon His own palms? -Charles Spurgeon

Was this encouraging to you today? If so, in what ways?