THE MIGHT HAND OF GOD
I heard something interesting on the radio recently. They said if you had a horse with the IQ of Einstein, what could that horse do? It has no hands.
I played around with this for a while, trying to imagine what this smart horse could do. Outside of some fancy stepping around the pasture, my conclusion was — not much at all ….. without hands.
Look at your hand. It is a remarkable instrument. Yes, you are intelligent; yes, you have a language — but I believe men have surpassed every other creature on earth because of the Human Hand. Man can go faster than any animal can run — fly higher than any bird — and outmaneuver anything in the sea. With the hand, man has been able to implement all of the marvels of modern technology.
Scientists tell us the hand cannot duplicate. No instrument can make with the human hand’s strength, sensitivity, and capabilities.
If right now, by some strange act of science fiction, you lost the use of your hands, you would be a prisoner to any room you are now in with a doorknob. If you could get to your car, you could not open or drive it even with the keys right in your pocket!
THE HAND OF GOD
I call to your attention “the hand of God,” as we see it in, 1Peter5:5-6: ‘Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.’
What is the Hand of God that is spoken about here? Should we look for a big hand in the sky? No. Not at all. If we study the preceding verses in this chapter, Peter talks about church government. About the elders and ministers who tend the flock of God. People whom God has placed in leadership offices in the church that we as Christ’s body are called to submit to.
The hand of God is the five-fold ministry of God ( apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers ). When Peter says to ‘humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,’ he means to submit oneself to the government of God in the church.
LESSONS FROM THE NATURAL HUMAN HAND
The natural human hand teaches us much about the spiritual hand of God in the church. Your hand is the only part of your body that ministers to every other aspect of your body. Your hand goes from head to toe serving your body. If a headache comes, what is the first thing that you do? You place your hand on your head. Sore knee, there goes the hand again. No matter what part of the body is hurting, the hand is the first to minister comfort and aid. It is an automatic reflex, and the strangest thing about all of this is… that it feels better when you put your hand on any part of your body that is hurting. Right? There is something in the touch of the human hand that is unique. Many animals love the touch of the hand. Trainers factor this into their reward system along with food. There is comfort and assurance in the human touch that is scientifically unexplainable.
Some years ago, I was in the hospital. After the delivery of a stillborn child, I started to hemorrhage badly. My blood type was unavailable, and after an emergency procedure, the bleeding did not check. I remember thinking, This is it, and I’m checking out. I felt so alone and afraid.
A nurse appeared at my bedside — a small blond woman, mid-forties maybe, with a definite air of authority, I thought, probably a head nurse. She sat beside my bed and tenderly took my hand in hers and held it. She said nothing, just held my hand, gently caressing it. She never uttered a word. I can’t explain it, but I was no longer afraid and unsettled.
Comfort went from her hand unto my very soul. I did not know her, and she did not know me, but she knew that I was dying– and that she would not let me die alone and un-comforted. I faded in and out of consciousness, but always she was there holding my hand. As I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, she comforted me with her hand.
PEOPLE THAT GOD CALLS HIS HAND
Ministers are a group of people that God calls His ‘Hand.’ Their presence is a comfort to us also in unexplainable ways. When you look up and see a man or woman of God at the graveside, in the hospital, and the courtroom, your heart is strangely comforted. Whenever fear, pain, or grief crowds into our lives and we add the minister of God — the equation is improved in our favor. Ministers of God are the Comforting Hand of God.
Peter says the Hand of God is also mighty. There is no greater authority on the earth than the man of God. We honor our great men in government, industry, education, medicine, and rightly so. But I don’t believe there is anyone greater than the Minister of God…. the man dealing day-by-day with eternal realities and possibilities.
2Kings 1:2-6: And Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, ‘Go, inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.’ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ‘Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?’ Know therefore this, saith the Lord, ‘Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art has gone up, but shalt surely die.’ And Elijah departed. And when the messengers turned back unto the king, he said unto them, ‘Why are ye now turned back?’ And they said unto him, ‘There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it now because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou are gone up, but shalt surely die.’
The Mighty Hand of God. When a king orders, it should be followed precisely, right? But enter the Man of God who issues a counter order. ‘Go back,’ he says, and go back they did! The perturbed King questions, ‘So what’s going on here? I’m still the King. What are you doing back here?’ The messenger’s reply, ‘You are the king, and we know it. But on the way to Ekron, we met someone with greater authority than you possess. He sent us back with this message to you: ‘You will die because you have dishonored the true God by seeking Baal.’
Who gave these men the audacity to deliver this piece of bad news? The Mighty Hand of God. Make no mistake about this. God’s rules and His servants are still the Supreme Authority on the earth today.
If you can look at the true ministers of God and see nothing but men and women, you are in a bad way. Ananias and Sapphira found this out the hard way (Acts 5) They thought that it was just Peter and the fellows taking up yet another offering. Maybe they needed new sandals; who knows? The Holy Spirit said, ‘You have made a serious mistake. You did not realize that when you brought your offering to these men, you put it into MY hand—the Hand of God.
2Kings 6: 8-10 ‘Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, ‘In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down.’ And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.
Here we see Israel reckoning with Syria, a deadly and persistent foe. The king of Israel acknowledges a greater authority than all of his generals and military strategists. When they brought the king their report, he set it aside and asked, ‘What does the man of God say?’
There is no difference today. Beloved, God is raising a whole new tribe of Issachar. ‘Men who understand the times and know what God’s people ought to do.’ God is alive and well on planet earth, and he is at work in a group of people that He calls His Hand. Each blood-washed, faith-filled, spirit-led minister of God is an extension of God’s mighty purpose and power in the earth today.