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“Hands Of Love” Devotional

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Every Jewish child during the time of Jesus knew their nighttime prayer, taken straight from Psalm 31:1-5: “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

In His hands that bear the scars/ In His hands, He is holding me

Jesus said this prayer with his last breath on the cross: “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). Any Jew present at Jesus’ death knew the words and understood. They are from the Psalm of David when David was in distress, running from his enemies, asking God to save him.

But, as Pastor John MacArthur points out, Jesus did not finish verse five of the Psalm while he was on the cross. He left out the end: “you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” MacArthur says, “He took out [that] part…because He wasn’t redeemed, He was the Redeemer.

Jesus borrows from that Psalm because Psalm 31 is about the prayer of a righteous sufferer who is in the midst of His suffering saying, ‘All I can do is commit My heart to You, commit My spirit to You, commit My life to You.’ And Jesus is the perfect, sinless, righteous sufferer who in death expresses perfect trust in His Father’s love and promise to receive Him.”

Oh, Jesus, The one who frees us, the one who holds us all up/ Jesus, the one who saves us, the one who holds us all/ In His hands of love

If Christ could commit his life to God’s hands as he hung on the cross, then we can entrust our lives to God through Christ. It was Christ’s pierced hands on the cross that made forgiveness and freedom possible for us who were condemned by our own sin. For what happened as soon as Jesus committed his spirit into God’s hands? The Gospel of Matthew says, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matt. 27:50-51).

Oh, Jesus, The one who frees us, the one who holds us all up

In this way, Christ’s pierced hands on the cross are a symbol of love for us. His hands brought us into a true relationship with God. They tore the curtain and the curtain will never be rehung. It is finished. We are His. And into His hands, we have the privilege to commit our spirits.

Written by Andrea Lucado