Genesis 9:5

The Hand

The hand of man. Genesis 9:5.

Did you ever notice people's hands? How different they are! They are like those green and white striped grasses called “gardener's garters” you never find two exactly alike. Even in the same family you see hands of different shape and different size. And to those who know about such things, the shape of the fingers, and the lines on the palm, and even the very finger-nails tell a history.

Some of you older boys and girls have read Conan Doyle's great stories about Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle got his idea of Sherlock Holmes from a certain Dr. Joseph Bell, who was such a clever man at noticing little things and putting them together and making a whole story out of a few details. It was said he could go into a railroad car and by glancing at the hands of the various passengers could tell you their occupations and much of their life's story.

Even you yourselves have noticed certain things about other people's hands. For instance the hands of a working man are not in the least like those of a watchmaker, an engraver, or a person who writes all day. And some of you little ones who get your faces washed know that there are very hard hands, as well as nice soft ones. A real nurse's hand is both strong and soft. A doctor's may be the same, but it must also have a very delicate touch.

Then perhaps some of the boys have seen men who had tremendous strength in their hands. But it was just a boy of whom we are told in the Bible that he killed both a lion and a bear. How strong his hand must have been! It was delicate as well; for think of it! that boy could play the harp most beautifully. Sculptors have often tried to represent him in marble, sometimes as a boy, more often as a man. But with their cold stone they could never show us the living hand of David.

1. Her hand. You remember the first hand you ever noticed? It was your mother's, wasn't it? You know every line and mark upon it the first finger of the left hand, with the marks that the needle has made, the knuckles perhaps they tell of hard work and the palm. You never saw a hand quite like it. It can do all sorts of things brush your hair, iron the dresses for the picnics, perhaps even scrub the floors. There have been men who, when they were away in foreign countries, loved to think of that hand. It comforted them. And there have been others who could not bear to think of it. They had done what was wrong, and felt they could not look their mother in the face.

2. My hand. Now, there's your own hand “my hand.” It has a little history written on it already. The mark of that cut you got two years ago, and that big joint on your fore-finger it was caused by a chilblain.

But these are just small things. Speaking seriously, what is your hand for? For service for doing things with. Who is its master who controls it? You do. No wonder, then, that the hand is mentioned in the Bible more often than almost anything else. The Bible is just written about men and women, boys and girls; what they do, and how they are rewarded or punished. It is, in fact, a great book about the hands. And then think of this. Each of you has a pair of hands, and they may at your bidding do either good or evil. Your hands are you. If you have a careless mind, then, according to the Bible, your hand is the same. It speaks of “the hand of the diligent,” the “slack hand,” “clean hands,” the hand that is “cruel,” and the hand “stretched out to help.”

There is a hand I should like to speak to the girls about. It is an old-fashioned, but a very beautiful one the hand of the virtuous woman. “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy” (Proverbs 31:20). Some of you girls are anxious to have beautiful hands. I can tell you how to get them. Imitate the woman of the Book of Proverbs. The loveliest hands on earth are the hands that are ever busy finding something to do for others.

3. His hand. A few years ago I went with a lady to see an interesting church. We had been out for a walk together and had talked to each other just about ordinary everyday things. But in the church was a picture of Jesus Christ. When my companion saw it she knelt down in deepest reverence to pray. And a feeling like that comes when one tries to think of “His hand.”

From beginning to end the story of Christ's hand is a story of love. “Jesus put forth his hand”; “He laid his hands on them”; “He took her by the hand.” It was Christ's hands which broke the bread that fed the hungry multitude. It was the same hands which broke the bread for His disciples at their last supper. Yes, and these loving hands were nailed to the Cross for you and me. And these hands of Christ's are still busy. They are still caring for His children. They are still ready to help and guide all who come to Him.

A mountain climber once came to a dangerous gap in the ice, where the only way of crossing was to place his foot in the outstretched hand of the guide. He hesitated and the man noticed it. “Do not fear, sir,” said the guide. “That hand has not yet lost a man.”

Boys and girls, we may trust ourselves to Christ. He never lost, He never will lose, any who come to Him.