HIS GRIP WON'T SLIP...

Isaiah 41:13; Psalm 73:23026; John 10:27-29; Hebrews 7:25
 
   I find myself thinking today of my father. Dad has been with the Lord for some 20 plus years now, but his memory is still fresh and I miss him and I am grateful for the good memories.
   Dad died after a long bout with cancer. I had not seen him for several weeks due to the distance between our homes, me in Nebraska and he in Missouri. When I arrived at the funeral home for the viewing, he didn’t look the same. The funeral director had done what he could, but the cancer had taken its toll on his body, but still familiar were his hands.
    Long years of field work had made his hands weathered, worn and calloused, but they also had a gentleness about them. These were hands that had both corrected and comforted me. Hands that had shown me care and tenderness. These were the hands that held mine over some rough terrain as we walked through plowed fields to keep me from stumbling. I recall that during the times I held to his hand and stumbled, I often fell, but when he held my hand, though I might stumble, his grip was strong and held me tightly.
    Likewise, in life’s journey I have found that when I try to walk on my own, though holding to God’s hand, my grip has a tendency to slip, but when He holds my hand, His grip won’t slip. John 10:27-29 reminds us that when we are securely held in the Shepherd’s hand we are unpluckable! Are you holding on, or being held?
 
    Thomas Dorsey suffered the tragic loss of both his wife and infant son. In this, his darkest hour, he reached out to God and the Lord took his hand, leading him through one of life’s most difficult times. Sometime later, Dorsey penned the words to the familiar hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand.  What He did for Thomas Dorsey He will do for you.  You don’t have to ‘hold on’ when you are being held!