God's Handwriting

When I was a young girl I took piano lessons. I wasn't very good, and I dreaded practicing.

So much that I was somewhat happy when my Mom caught my fingers in the sliding door of the van and they were too sore to play for a couple of weeks.

And also when my Mamaw Na accidentally sliced the tip of my thumb with the scissors.

No piano! No tee-ball!

Just a ridge on the end of my thumb that reminds me of my Mamaw everytime I feel it, and a thumb that can't be used for a fingerprint on the Pyxis machine at the hospital.

We're told our fingerprints are unique to each one of us.

God has a fingerprint, too, I'd like to think. After all, we are told we are made in His image. Just as you can see when a toddler has been perched next to a window by the sticky fingerprints on the glass, God leaves His fingerprints in the world around us.

We see Him in nature, in the "coincidences" that happen.

My Pastor talked a little about the fingers of God today, when He pointed out three instances in Scripture when God actually wrote something Himself, in His own handwriting.

(I'm pretty sure that my handwriting is NOT made in the image of God's handwriting, because nobody can read it!)

The first example when God wrote something was the 10 Commandments in Exodus. Brother Kemper pointed out that in this situation, He was writing the law, because sin had abounded after the Fall and He was separated from His people. He knew they would never be able to keep the law, but they had to have a guideline in place. He had a plan for atonement, and this was shared with them... but it was temporary.

The second example was in Daniel, when King Belshezzar was partying hard using the sanctified Temple vessels. When the law is violated, there must be punishment, and that is what God wrote in this instance. The King was found wanting, and he died that very night. How frightening it must have been to sit in that banquet room and see a hand appear, letters form on the wall, and then to be told that you weren't what you needed to be.

The last example was in John 8. Again, a woman was found breaking the law... but her accusers were pious and self-righteous. Jesus stooped down and wrote something... we don't know what.

Brother Kemper said He wrote grace.

Maybe not the word exactly (although, perhaps He did!), but what was written provided grace.

It also reminded her accusers that no one is perfect. "He that is without sin, let Him cast the first stone."

Three samples of God's handwriting. Three samples of His heart. A heart that is just. A heart that is righteous. A heart full of mercy.

Lord, write Your words on my heart so that I will reflect You. Help me meditate on Your law, Your Word, Your precepts. You are good, and You are the best storyteller. Write mine so that it is worth reading.