“Is my hand shortened?
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, April 4, 2024 Psalm 114 (Forward, p. 66) CEV p. 627
Far too often we limit God, thinking of Him and His power only in earthly terms, or only in what we see as normal cause and effect. Moses certainly had this problem when the people of Israel complained about not having any meat to eat but having ‘nothing at all but this manna to look at’. God promised them meat to eat, meat in such abundance that they will grow sick of it! Moses protests, “But God, there are some 600,000 people here? Where would we get enough flocks or herds or fish in the sea to feed them?” God answers him,
“Is the Lord’s power limited [the Lord’s hand too short]? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Numbers 11:23)
Again, in the prophet Isaiah we hear of God’s sovereign power:
“Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? By my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering” (Isaiah 50:2b-3).
But then, a bit later, we are made aware that there is a human element to this, that humans and human actions can actually have a bearing on this:
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
We hear this same kind of thing in the New Testament as well, as in the visit of Jesus to the synagogue in Nazareth where He was seemingly unable to ‘do deed of power there’ because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6).
Today’s psalm mentions God’s over creation and over the nations of the world (in this case, Egypt), but where do we see this today? I would suggest that God is no less powerful today, that He is still able to work
wonders, whether here at home, or further afield. I wonder whether it is our sin, as mentioned in Isaiah, or our unbelief, as suggested in Mark, that constitute an impediment to God’s decisive action today. In other words, if ‘His hand is shortened’, it is largely up to us. Something to think about.
Forward notes: “The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like young sheep” (verse 4).
“On a Sunday when the regular teachers were unavailable, a friend and I were asked to teach a children’s class. The plan was to choose one of the Scriptures appointed for that Sunday, discuss the content, then supervise an art project in whatever time remained. My friend and I did the readings together and attempted discussion, coming up with no plan. We started again, and when we read the psalm for the second time, we got a collective glint in our eyes.
“Our class began with the art project. We brought in butcher paper, and each of us drew a mountain or hill on a body-sized piece, which we attached with tape over our clothing. As a group, we marched all around the parish hall in and through the other classes from pre-school to adult—bleating, singing, skipping, and dancing. Although we were never asked to teach Sunday school again, I have gratitude that the hills and mountains I see from my windows in western Colorado are an ongoing expression of God’s wondrous delight.”
Moving Forward: “When do you see and affirm God’s wondrous delight in you?”