Hands on

Psalm 92:4
For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

When was the last time you looked outside at nature and just found joy in the splendor of God’s creation? Vibrant sunrises and sunsets paint the skies every day around the world. Beautiful moon-lit nights punctuate the wonder of God’s earth. Bright warm sunny days illuminate the fiery colors of fall reflected in the trees. Cardinals float through the air, whales breach off the coast of Alaska, and wild horses run free on the beaches of North Carolina, they are all part of God’s beautiful creation. But not a single one of these things is the work of God’s hands!

All of these things are the works of God’s voice. In Genesis 1 we find that God spoke everything into existence. There was no “hands on” work being done; God spoke, the non-existent became existent. It wasn’t until God made man that He went hands on (Genesis 2:7). The power of God’s voice alone was enough to make the universe and all that is in it. To create mankind, however, God became much more intimate. Out of all of creation, we, people, are the only ones to have been actually formed by God’s touch.

The body you’re in, the mind you possess, and the personality that you have been were all created by the hands of God. He didn’t just speak and you became a person. He took the time to personally form you (Jeremiah 1:5)!

When Jesus walked the earth He fully embraced the hands-on God approach. He wasn’t stand-offish, healing and preaching from a great distance. He didn’t shout across mountaintops, “Be healed, ye leprous man! Have sight, ye blind beggar!” Jesus got up close and personal with the people He intended to heal. He touched the leper and made him well (Mark 1:41). He put His hands over the eyes of a blind man and gave him sight (Mark 8:25). He replaced the ear of a wounded servant who had come to arrest Him (Luke 22:51). Jesus used His hands, the hands of God, to recreate what had been damaged by sin.

These works are nothing, however, when compared to the ultimate work done by God’s hands on Calvary. Jesus, God in the flesh, used His hands to open up the floodgates of Heaven to a lost and broken world. He used His hands to remove the curse of sin and death from our lives. He used His hands to carry the full weight of God’s wrath. He used His hands to place the robe of His righteousness on us and surround us with His grace. He used His hands to fully restore man to a right relationship with God.

We are made glad through God’s works such as sunsets and pretty birds. But more importantly, we are triumphant in the works of His hands. We will triumph in the works of God’s hands (literally our bodies) because we will triumph in the works of God’s hands (Jesus’ crucifixion).