Clinging Tightly

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:27-30

Sometimes we clench too tightly to the things of this world. Through long lessons over years I have learned that open hands before God is always better. I don’t always do it because it is difficult and can feel scary… but it is also a form of worship and a safe act of surrender.

However, there is another lesson to be learned: while worldly pleasures must be enjoyed with open hands, the truths of God’s Word must be held tight. Under no circumstances can we let those truths slip through our fingers. We must hold onto them as if our very existence depends upon their nearness, because sometimes it does.

There is a truth for every moment of life: When we are unable to understand the things around us we can recite Proverbs 3:5-6. When we doubt God’s goodness we can cling to Psalm 119:68. When we wait and wait, Psalm 37:34 tells us to wait for the Lord. When we long for satisfaction, Proverbs 19:23 encourages us where to find it. When we can’t find appropriate words of praise, Psalm 150 provides a song to sing! When we have run out prayers, we can follow Christ in Matthew 6:5-15. When our joy is deeper than we can express we can read Psalms 95-99. I could go on. The Bible teaches us who God is, instructs us what to do with our sin, shows us the way of righteousness, comforts us, and gives us hope. In all of our situations, God’s Word has answers.

But how many times do those answers go unnoticed because we don’t want to go through the trouble of reaching for them? How many times do we let our Bible sit on the shelf because of sin buried in our heart that insists we don’t need it or it won’t be enough?

This is why we must hold it tightly. So when our heart is tempted to say, “It won’t help.”, our hands will be trained to not release their grip on the promises that give us life.

Holding truth is just the first step. What do we do with it? We preach it to our own hearts. We think on it, repeat it, continually feeding it to our hungry souls.

Why? So that one day our heart will feel what our head already knows – that God’s Word is true, and enough to satisfy us as we walk through this pilgrim land, until we reach our eternal home.

But make no mistake – we will not arrive there because of our clenched fists. No, we will arrive safely because Christ held tightly onto us throughout our lives. And the Father wraps His hand around His Son’s, doubly protecting us from harm.

God keeps us, and we will arrive safely home, held forever in the loving hands of our Savior.

© Grace Baeten 2022