To keep track of all her children and their stuff, a busy mom will often exclaim that she needs an extra hand.
A hectic waiter may wish for the same thing.
When people are in need we are inclined to ask them if we can lend them a hand.
It appears that there are a shortages of hands in the universe!
Or at least it can seem that way.
When you’re up late writing a paper because all your team members have bailed.
When you’re the one picking up after everyone else has gone home…. again.
When you’re left with the dirty work, the neglected tasks, and the menial assignments that no one else bothered doing, it can seem that there are not enough hands to get it all done. The feeling is even stronger when it comes to the stuff that our hands could never “take care of” in the first place.
The sick child.
The dying parent.
The hurting friend.
We may want to help, but we aren’t powerful enough, our hands aren’t strong enough to take away the hurt and the pain.
Yet we serve a God who is never short-handed. As Numbers 11:23 demonstrates when He rhetorically asks, Moses “Is the Lord’s hand shortened?” Then He follows up with these words, “Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
What a powerful image. When it feels like we’ve run out of help, God has only just begun. When we can’t do it in our own strength, we can trust in the One whose strength has no bounds. And He is so confident that what He promises He will bring to pass that He stakes His reputation on it.
If only we would believe Him more.
Perhaps we wouldn’t feel so short-handed.
After all, we serve a God who’s not.