God Speaking

“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13)

Every now and then, a movie comes along that leaves a deep impression on viewers.  Last year “The King’s Speech” was one such movie.  Not only was the acting superb, the story was historically true and the theme of a shy, unassuming man being able to overcome the terrible handicap of stuttering to become the King of Britain was very inspiring.  My favourite scene was the famous radio broadcast, Christmas 1939.  Britain was at war!  Fear had gripped the whole nation.  Gentle Bertie (now King George V1) had the enormous task of first overcoming his own fear of speaking and handling the new medium of radio, and then of finding the right words to comfort a nation terrified of what the New Year would bring.  He chooses to read from a small piece of prose entitled, “God Knows”.  What an inspiration it was to read those particular words.  He encouraged the people to put their hands into the hand of God who would guide them through the darkness of the unknown.  We know the incredible courage of the people of Britain as they trod through the darkness of war and I believe King George with his example of placing his faith in the Almighty had a lot to do with it.

So what does it mean for us to put our hands in to the mighty hand of God?  Holding anyone’s hand always involves putting trust in the person whose hand it is.  We have had visitors this week, two little girls with their father, and I was observing the younger one reaching for her father’s hand whenever the surroundings were unfamiliar.  She knew and trusted the owner of that hand to guide her through any situation; she knew he was strong enough to protect her.  So trusting God is the first big step before we surrender our hands to be led.

Over and over again Scripture ensures us that our Heavenly Father only has plans that are good for us. He wishes to give us confidence. He wishes to take away that terror of the night. He wants to banish the “what if” in our thinking. He wants us to step boldly into the future knowing that while we are holding his hand we will handle any situation that comes along.

“…For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future….” (Jeremiah 29:11)

When armed with those words we can start to trust that mighty hand not to lead us into any danger and even if we stumble we will be back on our feet in no time.

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Psalms 37: 23 – 24)

Knowing we have put our hand in that of the Mighty One we can say with confidence, Happy New Year

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