It is easy to give in to the feeling that we have been abandoned by God. Our circumstances may be bleak, our health gone, our loved ones no longer with us or our path uncertain. In Isaiah the Israelites felt the same way. They had been in captivity in Babylon for many decades. They felt abandoned by God.
A Just Punishment
But this abandonment they were experiencing was the punishment of a just and righteous God. A God who loved them more than a woman loves her infant (Isaiah 49:15). God informed the Israelites that even though a woman might, though rarely, forget her love for her child He would never forget. Their captivity in Babylon was a punishment that would certainly end in due time.
Engraved On His Palms
In Isaiah 49:16 God says that He had "engraved them on the palms of His hands." Of course God does not have real, physical hands. This was a metaphor for His relationship with His people. In this time, pagan worshippers often would place marks on their palms to signify who it was they worshipped. In this verse we learn that it is God, the One we worship, who has placed us on the palms of His hands.
Engraved With Nails
This engraving points to something deeper. In the past it was man who sacrificed to their gods, but in the person of Christ, it was Jesus who made the supreme sacrifice for us. This sacrifice was visible in the nail scars in His hands. How much plainer could God have made it, that His love was so great that He sent His Son to die for us?
Engraved Permanently
The choice of the word, engraved, which is khakak in Hebrew, means to carve or etch deeply. This was not a superficial mark. This would be similar to what one would see on a tombstone. This was not a mark that would fade with time or wash away. This mark would be permanent.
Always Loved
We are ever mindful to our God and Father. We are the sheep that our Shepherd tends. Each of us so important, so loved, that He would leave the ninety-nine to search for the one lost (Matthew 18: 10-14). Israel, the Church, and each of us individually, are engraved on His palms and in this we find our great hope.
Bound On Our Heart
In similar terms the Lord told the Israelites that His words should be in their heart and bound as a sign on their hand (Deuteronomy 6: 6-8; 11:18). The one to whom we are devoted is the one whose name is on our hands and in our heart. In Revelation, the Antichrist places his mark on the hand or forehead of his worshippers (Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4).
Never Abandoned
We may even believe, collectively, that the church has been abandoned by God as the people of Israel were. Writing almost 200 years ago a famous Bible commentator, John Gill had this to say about the church in the days he was living in, "...because of the low and declining state of the interest of Christ, as it now is; few being converted by the ministry of the word; great opposition made to the truths of the Gospel with success; the ordinances of it perverted or neglected; the presence of God in them very little enjoyed; great indifference and lukewarmness among professors of religion, and discord and dissensions in churches..." The temptation was to believe the church had been forsaken by God. But it has not, nor will it ever be!
Never Forsaken
We are promised in Deuteronomy 4:31 and in Deuteronomy 31: 6-8 that God will never leave us or forsake us. These words are repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 13:5. As Christians we may have periods in our life where we don't feel God's presence as strongly as in past times or perhaps we have waited a long time for a promise from God. This doesn't mean God has abandoned us. We are still engraved on the palms of His hands. Remember these words from Psalm 103: 17,
"But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children"
Enjoy the beautiful song, Never Alone, by Jason Upton, here.
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