“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….”
Isaiah 49:14-16. (NIV)
As this was written, 700 years before Christ, the invisible God was indicating that He will engrave us in the palms of His hands. He loves us more than a mother loves her child, and His reason for these inspiring words was to comfort His people, who at the time, were suffering and feeling forgotten.
An engraving of any kind is like a covenant. People have wedding bands engraved as a covenant of marriage. The ten commandments were engraved in stone, which was the old covenant between God and His people.
God went a step further in the new covenant, beyond engraving words in stone. He sent His only son, who was the fulfillment of all Mosaic law. He prepared Him to have a physical body, to reveal God’s love for us beyond mere words. He engraved us in His hands and feet through His crucifixion. The new covenant is not tablets of stone, but a person.
Jesus endured the cross, for the joy that was set before Him. He foresaw the redeeming grace that we would each experience because of Him. It gave Him great joy, to foresee what good would come from His engraved hands and feet. The scars in His hands and feet remained, as a memorial even after His body was resurrected and in a glorified state.
Since we are forever engraved in His hands and feet, He loves us with a forever, steadfast love, unlike any other relationship we could experience.
When we think God seems far off, or has forgotten us, we only need to think of Jesus’ hands and feet that were engraved for us. It is an eternal engraving, and a memorial of God’s love, and incomparable to anything on earth.
Things occasionally happen in our lives that make us look up and ask, “God, where are you?” and He still answers the same way today, by saying, “Look at my hands and my feet, and know that you are engraved forever.”
Lord, thank you for the memorial of the scars of your love for us. Remind us when we feel forgotten, that you have engraved us in your hands and feet, so that we will know we are always highly valued in your eyes. Amen