God's Hand in Yours

"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand." (Psalm73:23)

The Lord holds me by my right hand. What words of truth, I am a testimony of that. Last year in June, we had an SP outing in Pulau Ubin. During the course of the outing, we were divided into groups and were tasked to complete activities around most of the island. And my group went along pretty quickly to our first station. In this first station, we were instructed to open a coconut using whatever materials we could find on the ground (ie. sticks and stones etc.). However, one of my teammate had carried a swiss army knife along with him, and so we decided to use it. I had the honour of the first attempt. During the process of trying to open the coconut, I accidentally cut the forefinger on my left hand. I'm a right hander, so naturally the knife was in my right hand. The blade had cut the skin, then went underneath the skin and came out on the other side of my finger, forming a 'V' shape cut on my finger. It probably sounds worse here, I'll show you a picture.



The accident has now left a permanent scar on my finger. But as I look upon the scar now, I am reminded not of how unfortunate I was to have that accident, but I am reminded of how God has been faithful, of how He was faithful even when the accident occurred. Psalm73:23 reminds us that God is always holding us by our right hand, He'll never let us go. That moment of the accident, the knife was in my right hand. And even as the blade went through my finger, God was still holding on to my right hand. He didn't let the blade leave too deep a cut. When I went to see the doctor, he told me that just 0.2cm deeper and there would have been implications. Now that is no joke. 0.2cm. God was holding my right hand as I was holding on to that knife. And now even as I look at the scar, I am always reminded of how God remained faithful, and I testify of His protection.

In this society, the numbers of youths hurting themselves either by slashing themselves or by consuming drugs or alcohol or cigarettes whatsoever, and if you are one of these, and you are wondering if there is even one glimpse of hope in this world, my answer to you is an emphatic yes. Whenever you held the blade to slash your wrists, attempting to shift the emotional hurt to physical pain, or even to just end your life, yet you wake up and wonder why you are still alive, the answer is God. Whether you know Him or not, He holds you by your right hand. And He will never let you hurt yourself more than you can bear, His heart breaks even at your thought of hurting yourself. Friend, if you are one who is thinking of taking your life by jumping off a building, or perhaps you have tried it already, yet somehow you are still alive, let me put it to you that God was holding you., whether you know Him or not.

Such is the love of the Father. As Asaph was writing Psalm73, he had reached a point in his ministry where he felt so dry and weary, doubting himself and God. That's why the opening of Psalm73 holds painful emotions, thoughts of giving up. But when we come towards the end of Psalm73, it's where we realise that Asaph has straightened his thinking, he writes of how God will remain faithful, of how he has a hope in God, and he expresses complete trust in God. In the beginning of Psalm73, Asaph writes of how physically rich the people in the world are. Yet when Asaph concludes Psalm73, this is how he ends, "But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds." (v28) Hallelujah.


Over the mountains and the sea,
Your river runs with love for me,
and I will open up my heart
and let the Healer set me free.
I'm happy to be in the truth,
and I will daily lift my hands:
for I will always sing of when
Your love came down

I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever,
I could sing of Your love forever