2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. Prayerġ3 And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever’ (v.21). All this inspires praise: ‘My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. ‘The Lord is near’ to you (v.18), he fulfils your desires (v.19), he watches over you (v.20). This psalm is full of wonderful promises. ‘The Lord is faithful to all his promises’ (v.13b). ‘The trademark on all his works is love’ (v.17b, MSG). The poet, Robert Browning, wrote, ‘I have lived, seen God’s hand through a lifetime, and all was for best.’ ‘God gives a hand to those who are down on their luck’ (v.14a, MSG). This metaphor of the extraordinary generosity of God, who opens his hand to you to satisfy your desires, comes in the middle of a section of the psalm that describes God’s great love and faithfulness. ‘You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing’ (v.16). Commentary God’s hand is open and generous God’s invisible and intangible hand is also on you: leading, guiding, encouraging, protecting, strengthening you and giving you courage.ġ3 The Lord is trustworthy in all he promisesĪnd you give them their food at the proper time.Īnd satisfy the desires of every living thing.ġ8 The Lord is near to all who call on him,ġ9 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him Ģ0 The Lord watches over all who love him,Ģ1 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.įor ever and ever. Ezra said, ‘Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage…’ (Ezra 7:28). What about ‘ the hand of God’? What does that mean? In the Bible, ‘ the hand of God’ means something very profound. Others were filled with the Holy Spirit (9:17 19:6), or received gifts through the laying on of hands (2 Timothy 1:6). Indeed, people were healed through the laying on of their hands (for example, Acts 8:17–18). He told his disciples that their hands would be used to heal the sick (16:18). At other times, he put his hands on people to bless them (10:16). We read of Jesus healing through laying his hands on sick people, or even just touching them with his hands (for example, Mark 6:5 8:23). The ‘ hand’ can be used as a metaphor for action, care and possession. But when we use the word ‘hand’ we often mean it in more than just a physical sense. A key part of the marriage ceremony is the joining of hands.Īt one level, your hand is simply your palm, fingers and thumb. Symbolically, I gave her to God and God gave her to her husband. He, in turn, joined her hand to that of her husband. His hand (for these purposes) represented God’s hand. On her wedding day, I took hold of our daughter’s hand and passed it over to the minister (who happened to be our son).
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