Are the hands you see closed or open?
It's kind of a "do you see the glass half-full or half-empty" question...only this time, the hands represent more than just an attitude or outlook.
As we enter into our fourth week of study we jump into some of the basics of Abraham's story.
Here's a guy who's got things pretty well settled in his life and God asks him to "leave everything and go to the land I will show you." (Gen. 12)
Abraham's the kind of guy who goes when God tells him to go. We see him respond actively to God's call in his life.
Later God tells Abraham he will have a son and make him the father of many nations.
Isaac is born and God tests Abraham, asking him to give Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham obeys God, is faithful through great trial, and God provides an animal to sacrifice.
Abraham was willing to obey God, even past logical conclusion. It didn't make sense for him to leave his home country, it didn't make sense for him to have a child at 100 years of age, and it didn't make sense for God to ask Abraham to sacrifice his precious son.
Abraham obeyed God when he was asked. He knew God, and "as Abraham actively responds to what he knows and believes about God we see his faith deepen and the risks he is willing to take get bigger." (50 Days, p. 84)
So, let's get back to the original question. Are the hands open or closed?
Are they relaxed and pliant, ready for God to use them...or are they tight and closed, and unable to be used by God. Habukkuk 2 tells us that "the righteous will live by his faith."
How would Abraham's hands have appeared?
How are your hands? How's your faith this week?
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