Psalm 25:20 (ESV)—Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
I admit, I love a good airfare deal. The question becomes, do I pay the price as is or do I upgrade? Do I suffer the one-in-the-morning landing time with eight-hour layover or pay more for the arrive-at-a-decent-hour nonstop flight? Do I settle for the economy seat and hope for the best comfort possible or shell out the money for the extra-legroom-included seat?
Such questions tempt us to look to the value of creature comforts, a right-now solution with no guarantees of our future comfort. When this “promise” of comfort comes from Satan, he tempts us away from the best deal in life we’ll ever receive: obedience in exchange for God’s refuge.
Our obedience to God reveals value greater than creature comforts: protection from shame, God’s forgiveness and mercy, freedom from anguish, and God’s instruction.
As we strive for obedience, let us evaluate the value of our choice and ask if it offers God’s refuge.
Last weekend, I attended She Speaks 2024 online. One big lesson I learned came not only from the many wonderful speakers but also from the attendees.
Success scares us.
My thoughts tread along a steep, rocky path of fear: If I become published, do I have to live in the spotlight of social media rather than in my cozy wallflower home? What if I botch the message I want to share? What if God calls me to reveal something deeply personal?
For these questions, I found encouragement in 1 Corinthians 3 about our work as God’s servants. First and foremost…
we are all servants of God (v. 5). We belong to a community of like-minded believers, writers wanting to nurture our readers with God’s truth, a truth we can plant alone but not nurture alone. As part of God’s ministry team…
we have built-in writing support (v. 6). This team supports us in our writing and we support their writing as well (through critique groups, through book launch teams, on social media, through prayer, etc.). By tending to our own stories as well as contributing to others’ writing journeys…
we work together in God’s service (v. 9). Our writing offers fields of nourishment, for example, a soldier might write a book of their experiences with PTSD that provides spiritual nourishment for other soldiers. Our writing offers a shelter of understanding, for example, a blogger whom God has healed from alcoholism might build a shelter for an alcoholic seeking refuge from temptation. Our writing ministry combined with others’ expands our Kingdom reach.
When we write in fear of success, our work may stay merely a seed in the ground. And seeds that stay in the ground end up rotting. Instead, let’s call upon our fellow workers to help us build stories on the foundation of Christ. Let’s come together in his name to grow bountiful fields and to build useful buildings. Let’s turn the spotlight from us to God, whose love helps us grow through our community and uses our writing as part of his ministry.
1 Corinthians 3:9 (ESV)—For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
I stared over the edge of the rock wall beyond which lay ten feet of rock and patches of snow ice, followed by a precipitous drop into the Grand Canyon. Gazing at my ice-cleat-clad feet, I gulped even though the cleat’s grip made slipping almost impossible.
“Come on, Amy,” the tour guide encouraged. “Kneel behind the wall and reach up like you need help!” After my husband and I kneeled and posed as if we dangled over the edge, the tour guide encouraged me to stand on the wall. “Amy, grab your husband’s hand.”
I stood and grasped my husband’s hand, saving him from a fictitious tumble sure to break a bone or two. If this situation were reality, and I had to use my hands to pull my husband from the cliff’s ledge, would I be able to do it? Maybe, because the hands are powerful and not only in clasping, pushing, and pulling but also in praising, praying, working, as well as other things.
On the basis of my search of Bible Gateway for the word “hand”—a search pulling up 1,591 results—I know, one, that God’s hands are powerful (obviously!) and, two, that human hands are powerful too, but in a different way. Human hands can fail without God to guide them.
Human Hands
The Beautiful
Nehemiah 8:6: Human hands praise God.
Deuteronomy 2:7: Human hands work.
Deuteronomy 1:25: Human hands share.
1 Corinthians 16:21: Human hands encourage.
1 Timothy 2:8: Human hands pray.
The Ugly
Genesis 27:17: Human hands deceive.
Matthew 17:12: Human hands bring suffering.
Matthew 26:45: Human hands betray.
Jonah 3:8; Number 22:29: Human hands commit violent acts.
God’s Hands: Always Beautiful
Zechariah 4:8–10: God uses human hands to fulfill prophesy.
Acts 6:6; 2 Kings 4:34: God uses human hands to heal.
Judges 7:20: God uses human hands to fulfill his plan.
Ephesians 4:17: God uses human hands to inspire faith and belief.
Numbers 20:11: God uses human hands to provide.
1 Peter 5:6: God’s hand provides a place of refuge.
Hebrews 8:9: God’s hand leads us.
Matthew 14:31: God’s hand saves us from our doubts.
Matthew 8:2–3: God’s hands heal.
Human hands alone, without God, are so powerful and capable. Capable of deceit as well as kindness. Able to share as well as kill. Fit for hard work as well as destruction.
With God, our hands are a powerful tool to work as if working for the Lord, to encourage one another, to share with others, to do God’s work.
