— J R Miller —

“Into thine hand I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31: 5a)

The hands of Christ were strong hands. While more gentle than a mother’s, they were omnipotent in their strength. At their lightest touch, diseases fled away, the dead were brought back to life, the fruitless tree was withered to its roots, the wild storm was quieted in a moment, and the turbulent waves of the sea sobbed themselves into perfect calm at the Master’s feet.

There is nothing that the hands of Christ could not do. At the end He said, “I have overcome the world; all the powers of nature, all the powers of evil, even the mighty sovereignty of death, stand subdued.” Surely we may entrust ourselves, with all our needs, weaknesses, dangers—into the hands of this strong Son of God. No enemy ever can overcome us—when He is keeping us. No hurt can touch us—when He is defending us. A mountain guide said to a tourist, who was timid about crossing some dangerous spot, “This hand never lost a man.” The strongest human hand may sometimes fail us—but the hand of God never shall. We may trust it implicitly and without fear.

Christ’s hands were saving hands. The weak, the weary, the troubled, the sorrowing, the sinful, all came to Christ—and never one that came to Him went away unhelped or unblessed. A penitent woman crept to His feet out of her sin, and His hand touched her, cleansed her—and set her among the redeemed! She had seen Christ, and one glimpse of His holy face, had consumed all the old sin, at the same time starting in her a new womanhood, pure, true, and beautiful. Thus always the hand of Christ can take the vilest sinner, blot out his sins, and build up new beauty in him.

The hands of Christ were safe hands. They never gave a wrong touch. They never led any one in the wrong way. Human friendship is shortsighted. The mother, in all her tenderness of heart, may do mistaken and foolish things for her child. The love may be most delicate and considerate, most strong and firm—and yet love does not always know what is best.

No responsibility in life is more serious than that under which we come when we take another life into our hands. This is true of the physician or the surgeon to whom we entrust ourselves for treatment in physical needs. Life is full of experiences in which with the utmost gentleness and strength, there is also the necessity for something more than human.

A baby is born and is laid in the mother’s arms. In its feebleness it says to her, with its first cry, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit.” “Guard my life. Teach me my lessons. Train and discipline my powers. Educate me until I reach the strength of mind and heart and life which God wishes me to attain. Hide me from the world’s harm. Let no evil thing touch me. Prepare me for this life and for eternity.”

Can there be any more serious responsibility in life than this? Every mother that thinks at all knows that she, herself, with her weakness and ignorance, cannot keep her child’s life. Her hands are not skillful enough, not strong enough.

Christian parents, conscious of their own weakness and lack of wisdom and skill, bring their little ones and put them into the hands of Christ, that He may guard them, teach them, and train them. The very language of their act is, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit.” “I cannot take care of it myself. Will you keep it for me?” Then the parents’ part is faithfulness in all duty to the child—example, teaching, restraining, guidance, training; to make the home atmosphere like the climate of heaven about the child’s soul. God comes to the little child first in the mother. Blessed is the mother who truly interprets Christ, in her keeping and training of her child. (… to be concluded)

(Above article extracted from Gracegems website)