God's Hands

God's hands are powerful. 

They created the earth and all that is in it.

They parted the red sea.

They furrowed truth into the tablets. 

With a wave of his hands, he toppled the tower of Babel.

From his hands flew the locusts that plagued Egypt.

From his hands he sent the ravens that fed Elijah.

The hand of God is a mighty hand.  So, why did he lay on the cross, palms open, and let the nails be driven into his wrists?  Why didn't he clench his fist, flex his bicep and push the nail and the hammer and the guard away?  He could you know.  The same hand that did all of the above is the same hand that stretched out on a wooden beam to be nailed down.

Why didn't Jesus resist?  We always reply "Because He loved us".  Yes, that's true, but only partially true.  In my morning reading today I realized that Jesus didn't resist because between the wood and his hand was was a list.  A list of my flaws, my lies, my sins, my lusts, my bad attitude, all of my mistakes.  Dangling from that cross was an itemized list of my mistakes.   The list can not be read though.  Because my sins are blotted out by the "blood of Christ"

Col 2:14 " He has forgiven all your sins; he has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross."

He refused to close his fist because he saw the list.  My list.  Your list.  And he knew in order for that list to be blotted out, his blood needed to pour down over it.  Our list was hidden by his sacrifice.

I think sometimes we accept what Christ did for us, we appreciate it, but we don't live like we do.  We continue to live in sin, we continue to swipe his Grace and Mercy as if it was a credit card with no limit.  But, we need to remember what He did for us on that Cross.  He could have gotten out of it.  He is God after all.  He could have said "They won't appreciate this.  They will take my sacrifice for granted".  But He didn't.  He knew we would struggle, continue to sin, continue to add to the list.  The only way for our sins to be covered was for his blood to pour down.  

He opened his hands for the nails so that the door of heaven would be open for us. 

What a sacrifice.

What great love. 

Something to remember and reflect on as we enter this season on Thanksgiving.  

I'm most thankful for God's Hands.