Who Holds Your Hand

A baby has no fear when holding the hand of their parent. They cling to those fingers, knowing the the loving hands holding them will keep them steady when they falter, and guide them on their path.

It sounds so idyllic.  But infants and children are not always so willing to go where the hand guides them. If you have had children or even observed a parent and child in the store, then you know the hands of the parents must, at times, lead the child where they do not want to go. They may strain and protest, but the parent knows what it best for the child.

I was thinking of this image today when reading Psalm 37:24, "When he (a man that is in relationship with God) falls, he will not be hurled headlong because The Lord is the One who holds his hand."
This One holding the hands is loving and relational, like the parent. He also knows what is best for His child. I think that we so glibly and easily embrace this childlike faith when we first come to a relationship with this Heavenly Father. But time, experiences, and challenges either deepen or destroy that faith. It is this mature kind of faith that I witnessed in the pain-filled eyes of our friends who so recently lost their only son in an accident.  I hear it in the words of our friends who are both facing cancer. It is in the voice of our children who are facing challenges, and in the hearts of friends who face those last years of their lives.

I think that God, that Heavenly Father, would want us to embrace the analogy and images of our children. To know that He has my hand and will keep holding it, even when I stumble and fall, is a comfort.  I may not understand where He is taking me, and I might even resist, but even so He will not allow me to fall headlong.
He holds my hand!

Who holds yours?