Hands of Toil, Hands of Trouble

But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. Genesis 19:10

In the case of our verse today, the hands were used for good to pull Lot to safety from the mob outside the house. You may have seen a news report today about a bishop's hands getting him into trouble. Yes, men, we are on the hot seat today because I am one of you and have gotten into trouble with my hands too.

The hands of man were given us as blessings from God. Then Adam reached out and took from Eve the forbidden fruit and we have toiled with our hands ever since that time. We have also used those hands to get into trouble time and time again. Jesus even told us to cut one off if it was going to be the cause of missing out on Heaven. So important are the hands in this life that I'm thinking very few men, if any, have done this thing. Any of us could exhaustively list all the tasks we use our hands for each and every day. We could also make quite a list of troubles and sins our hands have helped us get into. If trouble has come to you by your hands already this morning, I'm sorry. Let us hope the remainder of the day will bring good works.

The hands of toil are indeed the hands of trouble, but they can also be the hands that do good works. We need some help with that though, and Jesus our Lord offered to be that help. Actually, He said that without Him we could do nothing. Paul also said that through Christ's strengthening he could do all things. The hands of the Lord are seen as those which bring us His good help. Hands appear 456 times in the New King James Bible, showing their importance in the days of our lives. In Christ we can do good works with our hands, but in the flesh we can also do great harm.

Thank You, dear Lord, for the hands which are so useful and beautifully made by You. Please strengthen me to use them for good works.

Bucky