Ash Wednesday – The Handprint of God
In the Genesis narrative about the beginning of everything it is interesting to read how things occurred. As you read through the story, it all starts with darkness and God speaks and there is light. He speaks and the sun and moon appear and separate the night from the day. He speaks and the waters divide and land is exposed. He speaks and grass, trees and nature begin to sprout and stir. On the next day God speaks and animals, birds & fish begin to move around the earth.
Then the strangest thing happens on the sixth day. God reaches down into the dirt and begins to shape a form out of the dust. With his hands he shapes a man. Maybe a big nose, strong chin, ears sticking out. Who knows what Adam looked like. One day it will be cool to finally see how far off the artists have been with their paintings.
Okay, back on subject. God scoops some dirt in his hands and forms the shell of Adam. Then He leans in close and breathes. The Bible refers to it as “the breath of life.” When God no longer speaks but breathes, humanity is born. Think of the dirt becoming flesh and lungs filling with breath. His heart begins to beat. His eyes slowly open as if from a long night’s rest. As he blinks and tries to focus for the first time, he is looking into the eyes of God. I can’t wait to ask Adam to describe that scene one day. At least I hope we get to sit around tables and ask questions of all these “Bible Heroes.” Wonder what their questions for us will sound like?
Think about Adam though. The handprint of God is all over him. God scooped and formed that dirt into a person. There was not a part of Adam that did not have God’s hands on it. Every inch of him was touched by God. That is what made him different from all of creation. He was touched by God’s hands. Not just spoken over but touched and shaped. It gave him a special place in creation. Not necessarily above it all, but a little special in the Creators eyes.
Then I begin to think about a verse that David wrote later in Psalm 139:13. David writes that he believes “God formed him in his mother’s womb.” So think if God formed us in our mother’s womb, then His handprint is all over us as well. If God forms us, then his hands are on us. Adam is not the only one who is made by God. Our lives start with a gasp for breath when we are born. It is followed by a scream and cry. When my boys were born they both opened their eyes slowly and the bright lights got them to blink. I wondered the other night if the first thing we see when we open our eyes at birth just might be the face of God. And then life slowly dulls the image in our vision. That is the sad part of life. We lose the image of God in our minds, but we will never lose it in our lives. His handprints are on us.
But it goes still further. If His handprints are on us, then we take his handprints with us. Everything and everyone we touch receives our handprint. Our handprints have the ability to bring God’s handprints to all of our life. We take God into every place we go. We change our world with His handprint through ours. It is an important part of our existence. To help God’s handprint be shown and to impact the world we touch with His grace and love.
The question becomes for us: Does my life smudge out the handprint of God? Take some time to think through your life and look for the handprints of God in your life.