April, 2007
The Open Hand of God
Psalm 107:9
Psalm 104:21-28
Psalm 68:9
INTRODUCTION: Many people today are living as if God is not interested in their life or in how they are living it. As a result, their life has become one struggle after another with seemingly no one to turn to. Not only are financial struggles a major problem for people but also health concerns, and family pressures overwhelm them. Many Christians as well as unbelievers are living in a mere survival mode wondering what will happen next and feeling that they are just about ready to go under. They do not expect anything to get better.
Is there a different way to live our lives; and if so, how do we get there? The scriptures I read today speak of the provision of God for His creation--both people and the animals of the field. Scripture speaks of God’s unfailing love for his people and His wonderful deeds that He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 104:28 says, “When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.” This verse says when, not if. Psalm 68:9 says, “You gave abundant showers, O God, You refreshed your weary inheritance.
These are just three of many scriptures that speak of God’s open hand. The adjectives used to describe His provision are not skimpy, barely enough, just scraping the bottom of the barrel. They indicate that He satisfies; He fills. Other scriptures use terms of agriculture--a well-watered garden--a flourishing plant or bubbly springs. In Isaiah 58:11 the Message Bible puts it this way, “I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places…”
We need to know and be convinced that God wants to open His hand toward us. Many people will say, “Oh, I’m not worthy. Oh, I’ll never have a good job, or I never will be well…” On and on people speak as if they are not convinced of God’s love for them. In spite of the economy or anything going on around us, we can have a sense of wholeness and wellbeing in our souls. Apply this to yourself. You are not parched in your soul--you are flourishing. If the Lord is satisfying you, you are not just barely getting by. We have to be convinced that God wants our life to be good. Often we think that God is just wanting to disqualify us over our past or that He never quite forgives us.
STORY: A preacher had an affair over 20 years ago. He got things straightened out and went on to preach faithfully for many years. His deacon board found out about his past and barred him from preaching at his church and also had his credentials taken away so he couldn’t preach again.
We have to be convinced of God’s forgiveness so that His hand can be open toward us. Psalm 84:11 says, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
Being convinced that God is not out to get us, just what opens His hand and what closes it? Just how do we move into a place where we can see the open hand of God in our daily life? There are several things that cause this to happen, and I would like to talk about four things:
1. THANKFULNESS--Story:
A rabbi was walking in the country when he came across an old farmer working in the fields.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Terrible!” The farmer began to recite his litany of troubles
“The tomato crop failed this year.
The apples had worms in them.
The corn crop was a disaster
Things couldn’t get any worse.
My kids were sick
My wife broke her arm
Nothing has gone well
No signs of anything getting any better.
Trouble on every side
Can’t pay the bills. If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all. Things couldn’t get any worse. It’s been a terrible year.
God looked down and spoke to the rabbi and said, “If he thinks THIS is bad, wait until he sees next year!”
The rabbi continued down the road and came across the farmer in an adjoining field.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
The farmer replied, “Doing pretty good.”
The corn crop is not the best in the world, but it will give us a little money.
The apples weren’t as good as last year, but they sure made some good applesauce.
My kids were sick but they’re doing better now.
We paid off half the bills this year so I’m thankful for that.
We’re a happy family and we’ve got food on the table.
God said to the rabbi, “Well, if he thinks THAT’S good, just wait until he sees what I will do for him next year.”
Thankfulness is a key to open God’s hand. We fail to receive when we are careless about thanking Him. In fact, scripture calls our thanks a PASSWORD.
In Psalm 100 the Message Bible says, “Enter with the Password: THANK YOU. Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank Him. Worship Him.”
Thank you opens the door to all that God has done, is doing, and will do. Be generous with your Thank You to God.
ILLUSTRATION: You who are on e.mail know that you need a password to get online.
One day Walter said, “I can’t get online.”
I asked, “What password are you using?”
He told me, and I said, “One of the numbers is wrong. Use this instead.”
He did and immediately it worked.
What password are you using to see God’s hand open toward you? Are you thankful for all of the big and little things He has already done for you?
An old Estonian proverb said, “He who does not thank for little will not thank for much.” Do we appreciate what God has already done for us?
2. OBEDIENCE--Story: A student did not like to do homework. She said it was too hard to do and day after day she got a zero for not handing it in. Rather she wanted to do extra credit work to make up for not doing the homework. The teacher said, “No, if you do what I ask you to do, you’ll pass this class.”
We usually know what God wants us to do but often want to do what WE want to do because it is easier or takes less effort. Scripture tells us, “…to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (I Samuel 15:22). We can say, “God, I would rather substitute something else instead of what you are requiring of me.” That kind of attitude keeps the hand of God from opening toward us because “if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isaiah 1:19 NIV).
Are you doing all you know to do to be obedient to what God wants you to do? “From now on if you listen obediently to the commandments that I am commanding you today, love God, your God and serve him with everything you have within you, he’ll take charge of sending the rain at the right time, both autumn and spring rains, so that you’ll be able to harvest your grain, your grapes, your olives. He’ll make sure there’s plenty of grass for your animals. You’ll have plenty to eat” (Deut. 11:27 Message Bible).
The provision is traced back to obedience not just doing whatever we want to do even though we know it doesn’t please God. Can you say like David, “I delight to do thy will, O God?”
3. ACKNOWLEDGING GOD--Sometimes we only approach God when we are in a pinch--when we are desperately ill, when we have the bill collectors calling, or when our family is in crisis.
Sometimes we say about people, “Well, she doesn’t give me the time of day. She only knows who I am when she wants something.” In order for the open hand of God to be apparent in our life, we need to acknowledge God on a daily basis--to give Him the time of day. You need to be walking close enough to Him to hear what He has to say to you. Proverbs 3:6 tells us “in all thy ways acknowledge him [listen for God’s voice in everything you do] and he will direct thy paths.” We have to be on the lookout for God’s open hand. Would you recognize it if you would see it? It may come in the form of an unexpected job opportunity that just came up--out of the blue. It could come in the form of a good buy on something. That was not just coincidence. That was God’s open hand.
Position yourself for His open hand by acknowledging Him every day and listening for what He has to say. We have to be alert and ready to receive from His open hand. Too often we say, “It’s not a good time for me. Wait till the flu season is over. Wait until warm weather. Wait till school is out.” We often miss God’s open hand because we procrastinate.
God’s open hand comes to us in many different ways. It is not always money we need.
Story: John Rockefeller once said, “Oh, what I would give to eat just one hot dog.”
If you are sick, you need God to open His hand in healing and wellness. If you are in constant conflict with people, you need His open hand in the area of conflict resolution. There are many ways that He causes us to be like a flourishing plant or springs of water. When we acknowledge Him, we become more aware of His open hand in many areas of our life.
4. PLANTING SEED--Give God something to work with by planting seed away from yourself. God told Abraham, “…I will bless you…and you will be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2).
Isaiah 58:11 tells us, “if you are generous, with the hungry and start giving to the down and out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I will give you a full life in the emptiest of places--firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry” (Isaiah 58:11 Message Bible).
Giving opens the hand of God by establishing a cycle--giving and receiving. When God gives, don’t let it stop there--you give again. Give out of your need, give in a lot of ways, not just money. Give friendship to someone, give things to add a sparkle to someone’s day--learn to become a generous person in many different ways. Luke 6:38 tells us “give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
A well-known Old Testament scripture speaks of the open hand of God in another way, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw upon the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it” (Malachi 3:10 NIV). The Message Bible says, “…see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.”
CONCLUSION: What needs to be done in your life in order for you to experience the open hand of God? Do you need to change some things? Start by being more thankful in the every day things. Story: A woman was always complaining that she had nothing but junk. A friend said, “start taking care of what you already have and thank God for it. Then God will give you something better.”
Live in obedience to what you already know to do and acknowledge Him in your daily life. Be a blessing to someone, generously giving of yourself and your resources.
You will begin to see God’s Open Hand become evident in some very specific ways in your life.
Let us pray:
