Today I was reading Isaiah 49:16: See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
We know that the book of Isaiah is filled with prophecies about Jesus. The book takes us from the original meaning of the word prophet as a person who speaks the truth from God; to the more modern definition, that a prophet is a person who foretells the future.
In Isaiah’s case, it is both.
God loves us so much that he personally knows each one of us. And God loved us so much that He gave Jesus to be hung on the cross—the palms of his hands pierced for us.
Do you remember when you were in third grade and you figured out that secret, sneaky way to write answers to test questions on the palm of your hand? It was brilliant. No one had ever thought of that idea in the history of public education. No one would ever know that you had secret answers. No one would know you didn’t deserve the grade you got.
So maybe our idea wasn’t so brilliant. But God’s idea was. No one but God could have thought up the idea of providing us with a savior to satisfy His own laws requiring a blood sacrifice for our sins.
No one but God has the secret answers.
No one but God can grant me mercy and grace—that I don’t deserve.
We stumble on through life…jotting crib notes and reminders on the palms of our hands. But we can remember that Jesus loved us so much that those reminders written on the palms of His hands were for us. It wasn’t cheating. It was open-palm, loving hands, pierced for us; our names written in his blood.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your reminders and your plan. Thank you for never forgetting us and never forsaking us. Amen.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Tell the truth. Did you ever use your hand as a cheat sheet? [I did once and yes, I still feel guilty.]
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Today's post is part of the Christian Writer's blog chain. Our theme for August is "memory." Please follow the links to the right to see what my friends have to say about memory.
18 comments:
Yea, I did it too... but I got over the guilt of that one a while ago Carol :-)
I don't remember if I ever did. I'm sure I found some way to bring in a few of the answers. That would probably have been one of them.
@ Chris and Joe - I'm waiting to see if there's anyone out there who DIDN'T try this...
Wonderful thoughts on the picture God gives us of His "memory" and why He remembers us.
I don't remember ever trying that trick, though.
I love the spin in this---not so much focused on our memory as God's amazing memory of us.
You did once! Haha! I don't remember cheating by writing on the palm of my hand; but I do remember cheating 5th and 6th grade. It was whole scale cheating by many in the class, such as reading the answers from the answer book (especially for spelling) to the class when the teacher was out of the room. The teacher--same teacher for two years--wasn't very bright. It would have been much, much better for me to have done the work! Looking back I feel the adults let us down in letting us get away with it.
I love the thought of my name written in Jesus's palm.
I smiled when I rad this. God loves us despite ourselves
Nope! Never did that. I've always loved that verse and the thought that we are cut into His hands. So sobering. Wonderful post, Carol!
@ Bill and Lynn - the two folks in the world who maybe never did this. Glad to know you.
Thanks so much for stopping by! You are awesome.
@ Pam - I can see your classroom now. As the door closes behind the teacher, that one kid (was it you?) pulls out the answer book and everyone sits up and pays attention--for the first time all day. LOL!
@ Heather - yes, of course God doesn't need a reminder, but it sure is nice to know it's important enough to Him to make one anyway.
@ Tracy - well said! God loves us despite ourselves.
It's good to know that for anyone who has used their hand as a cheat sheet that there's free and full forgiveness through Christ. Wonderful post, Carol. And I can't remember if I cheated. Why? My sins are in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. ;-)
@ Stephanie - I love that image of God's "sea of forgetfulness." Thank you!
Did this bring back memories. I honestly never did write on my hand. However, I did sneak a peek at a classmate's paper once. Never did that again. The teacher in charge at the time had a massive ruler.
Another time, I let a classmate cheat off my paper. But the teacher nailed both of us after class. Said he knew my friend's answers were mine. Could tell by the writing. LOL
@ Deborah - LOL! You had found your writer's "voice" even back then! Very cool.
Never used my hands or other body parts as a cheat sheet, but I once doodled a formula in mirror writing onto a notes sheet we were allowed to bring in for an open book test in high school.
We were supposed to memorize the formulas and therefore weren't allowed to include them in our notes, but I was afraid I'd forget, so I took great pains to make it look like random scribbles. Ironically, I memorized it in the process and ended up not needing my "cheat" note.
For that same test, my classmates and I made up a song for something we needed to remember, and all during the test you could hear us humming, tapping it out on our desks with our pens and patting our feet to the beat of our improvised tune. It was like something out of a movie scene; I half expected someone to slip up and start singing it.
Cracked me up back then and still amuses me now, how we thought we were pulling something over on our teacher when all we were really doing was helping our own memories.
@ Traci - that is hilarious! I can hear the class singing, now!
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