Inscribed on the palms of His hands

Behold, I have inscribed you upon the palms of My hands. Isaiah 49:16

“I have inscribed you upon the palms of My hands.” My Lord, do You mean me? Yes, even me, if I, by faith, cling to Your cross. “I am not shut out from Your heart of love, if by faith I have entered into Your happy family. I know that You remember me or You would never have helped me to remember You. Glory be to You, O my gracious Lord.” But I want you, my beloved brothers and sisters, to notice that the word runs, “I have inscribed you.” It does not say, “Your name.” The name is there, but that is not all—“I have inscribed you.” See the fullness of this! I have inscribed your person, your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your needs, your works; I have inscribed you—everything about you—all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there! It is not an outline sketch, you see; it is a full picture, as though the man himself were there. What? Do you dare dream that God forgets you? Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when He has engraved you—not your name, I say, but everything that concerns you—upon His own palms? “Oh,” says one, “but I am in such a plight this morning.” Well, He has inscribed that there. “Ah,” says another, “I am so weak and so feeble!” That, too, is engraved there. “I have inscribed you.” The Omniscient God knows you better than you know yourself—and whereas you are conscious of some sin, and some imperfection—He knows that you have an infinitude of sin, and a vastness of infirmity! He has put it all there—“I have engraved you.” I say, again, this is a thing too great to be talked of, but more fit to be read, marked, learned, and digested in the silence of your closet. You have never inscribed yourselves so well upon the tablets of your own knowledge as God has inscribed you upon those blessed tablets—the palms of His hands! Yes, I dare to say it—our indulgent God as much thinks of one saint as if there were no other saint—and no other created thing in the entire world. Our covenant God so recollects and cares for His child, that if the whole universe were dissolved, and had departed like a shadow, and our Lord had but one man to fix all His divine grace upon, He would not watch him more, nor more carefully and lovingly see after his best interests, than He now cares for each one of His people! “I have inscribed you upon the palms of My hands.”

A Precious Drop of Honey, Sermon 512 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Photo credit: Linda Billinger / Beech Trees in Coed Cefn Wood