What is In Your Hand?
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. (1Sa 17:49) (Read: 44-50)
Dr. Bill and Kathy Rice had a deaf daughter. Because of that, they built a Bible camp in Murfreesboro, TN: The Bill Rice Ranch to reach deaf young people with the Gospel.
Dr. Rice preached in chapel at Tennessee Temple College, “What is In Your Hand?” It had a great influence on my life. For years, I thought “What is In Your Hand?” was part of a Bible verse; but it’s not. It’s a great Bible truth but not part of a Bible verse.
There is this verse that should foremost in our thinking: For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1Co 4:7)
The idea of this article is that God puts things into our hands and employs what is in our hands for His glory and purpose. God does not equip rabbits to fly and does not enable birds to run faster than a cat. So, what has God put into our hands? We usually cannot see it at the beginning but as we look back, we see that God was there from the very beginning.
If we cannot discern the will of God, we should begin by looking at what is in our hands. God is not going to use a one-arm man to be a violinist. He is not going to use a tenor to sing bass. He is not going to use me as an artist to paint beautiful pictures or to run a big corporation or to be the U. S. President.
But, there were some things God put into my hands. As a farm boy, I understood that one can only use a tool that is in one’s hands. So, what is in your hands? What is in your heart? What drives you? In this article, I will not go into the importance of prayer and surrender to what God shows you, although that is uppermost for Christians.
The auto-biography of D.L. Moody (1837-1899) notes that he knew his strengths and his weaknesses and had due regard for both. Also, he emphasized using his strengths and spent less time trying to use his lesser talents. Good advice. Whatever we do, we ought to learn to do it with all the ability God gives us.
Young David did not begin his use of the sling on the day he put down Goliath. God positioned David in the care of his father’s sheep so that he developed the use of the sling into a fine-tuned skill. David simply did not miss. Obviously, God had His eye on David in the womb of his mother and began shaping him long before he knew he was being shaped.
God endows babies with qualities not of their own making and watches over them to bring His plan to pass. Do we think Bill Gates figured out his computer ideas on his own? I don’t think so. In the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to people “as He will.” Though we are similar, we are not identical. None of David’s brothers were suitable for God’s purpose of providing a king for Israel. His sling and his poetic pen were to be his key of access to God’s appointed place. David used what was in his hand and he was good at it.
The armor of Saul was not a fit tool for David, although it was a fine piece of armor. And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. (1Sa 17:38-39) What is in thy hand?
I meet left-handed people of my generation whose teachers went to great lengths to rescue them from their left-handed handicap. The aim was to standardize the abilities of the students. My teachers were smarter and left my left hand alone.
Thomas A. Edison, who gets credit for perfecting the electric light bulb and the phonograph, was designated by his teacher as the class dunce. Einstein of Germany was considered by his teachers to be slow and unteachable. Sometimes it seems that God may have a sense of humor when He endows certain ones with hidden advantages that go unrecognized because they are substandard.
In many families, there is the smartest child and the slowest child. A parent may be worn out struggling with the slow child. One day it comes out in a burst of frustration: “Why can’t you be like your brother?” The slow one doesn’t know why he cannot be like his brother and he is hurt for life by an impatient parent who said the wrong thing and wounded the child. The problem is not the child. The problem is the parent who does not recognize that the Creator God appoints children with different things in their hands. Children have no obligation to be like each other. They have an obligation to use what God has put into their hands to the best of their ability.
When I was five years old in 1939, my daddy let me type my name on his 1935 Royal typewriter he had bought new. He used it to write letters to businesses to sell wood products from his sawmill. The typewriter was his pride and joy. I still don’t know why he would trust his five-year-old to type on his treasured machine with my two fingers. It was the tool God had put in my hands at age five.
That typewriter sits on my desk at Flat Rock and I use it occasionally to type Bible memory cards. Mostly, I leave it there to remind me that at age five, the Lord put in my hands a tool He wanted me to use for a lifetime. My hands are still free of arthritis. I would have to go against a lot to suddenly stop writing for no good reason. I’m not as good as many other writers, but that is what God has put into my hands. When I finished pastoring, the Lord made it clear to me: “feed my sheep.” OK. How do I do that? What is in thy hands? And I ask you: what is in your hands? Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 15, 2017 – MONDAY
A.M. 2Kings 12-14 P.M. John 5:25-47
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Memory Verse This Month:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44)
Song for Today:
The Unclouded Day (3:32) (CMC- Sou. Pines, NC)
https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/1855726871417630/
You may need to adjust your volume.
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. (1Sa 17:49) (Read: 44-50)
Dr. Bill and Kathy Rice had a deaf daughter. Because of that, they built a Bible camp in Murfreesboro, TN: The Bill Rice Ranch to reach deaf young people with the Gospel.
Dr. Rice preached in chapel at Tennessee Temple College, “What is In Your Hand?” It had a great influence on my life. For years, I thought “What is In Your Hand?” was part of a Bible verse; but it’s not. It’s a great Bible truth but not part of a Bible verse.
There is this verse that should foremost in our thinking: For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1Co 4:7)
The idea of this article is that God puts things into our hands and employs what is in our hands for His glory and purpose. God does not equip rabbits to fly and does not enable birds to run faster than a cat. So, what has God put into our hands? We usually cannot see it at the beginning but as we look back, we see that God was there from the very beginning.
If we cannot discern the will of God, we should begin by looking at what is in our hands. God is not going to use a one-arm man to be a violinist. He is not going to use a tenor to sing bass. He is not going to use me as an artist to paint beautiful pictures or to run a big corporation or to be the U. S. President.
But, there were some things God put into my hands. As a farm boy, I understood that one can only use a tool that is in one’s hands. So, what is in your hands? What is in your heart? What drives you? In this article, I will not go into the importance of prayer and surrender to what God shows you, although that is uppermost for Christians.
The auto-biography of D.L. Moody (1837-1899) notes that he knew his strengths and his weaknesses and had due regard for both. Also, he emphasized using his strengths and spent less time trying to use his lesser talents. Good advice. Whatever we do, we ought to learn to do it with all the ability God gives us.
Young David did not begin his use of the sling on the day he put down Goliath. God positioned David in the care of his father’s sheep so that he developed the use of the sling into a fine-tuned skill. David simply did not miss. Obviously, God had His eye on David in the womb of his mother and began shaping him long before he knew he was being shaped.
God endows babies with qualities not of their own making and watches over them to bring His plan to pass. Do we think Bill Gates figured out his computer ideas on his own? I don’t think so. In the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to people “as He will.” Though we are similar, we are not identical. None of David’s brothers were suitable for God’s purpose of providing a king for Israel. His sling and his poetic pen were to be his key of access to God’s appointed place. David used what was in his hand and he was good at it.
The armor of Saul was not a fit tool for David, although it was a fine piece of armor. And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. (1Sa 17:38-39) What is in thy hand?
I meet left-handed people of my generation whose teachers went to great lengths to rescue them from their left-handed handicap. The aim was to standardize the abilities of the students. My teachers were smarter and left my left hand alone.
Thomas A. Edison, who gets credit for perfecting the electric light bulb and the phonograph, was designated by his teacher as the class dunce. Einstein of Germany was considered by his teachers to be slow and unteachable. Sometimes it seems that God may have a sense of humor when He endows certain ones with hidden advantages that go unrecognized because they are substandard.
In many families, there is the smartest child and the slowest child. A parent may be worn out struggling with the slow child. One day it comes out in a burst of frustration: “Why can’t you be like your brother?” The slow one doesn’t know why he cannot be like his brother and he is hurt for life by an impatient parent who said the wrong thing and wounded the child. The problem is not the child. The problem is the parent who does not recognize that the Creator God appoints children with different things in their hands. Children have no obligation to be like each other. They have an obligation to use what God has put into their hands to the best of their ability.
When I was five years old in 1939, my daddy let me type my name on his 1935 Royal typewriter he had bought new. He used it to write letters to businesses to sell wood products from his sawmill. The typewriter was his pride and joy. I still don’t know why he would trust his five-year-old to type on his treasured machine with my two fingers. It was the tool God had put in my hands at age five.
That typewriter sits on my desk at Flat Rock and I use it occasionally to type Bible memory cards. Mostly, I leave it there to remind me that at age five, the Lord put in my hands a tool He wanted me to use for a lifetime. My hands are still free of arthritis. I would have to go against a lot to suddenly stop writing for no good reason. I’m not as good as many other writers, but that is what God has put into my hands. When I finished pastoring, the Lord made it clear to me: “feed my sheep.” OK. How do I do that? What is in thy hands? And I ask you: what is in your hands? Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 15, 2017 – MONDAY
A.M. 2Kings 12-14 P.M. John 5:25-47
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Memory Verse This Month:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44)
Song for Today:
The Unclouded Day (3:32) (CMC- Sou. Pines, NC)
https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/1855726871417630/
You may need to adjust your volume.
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