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The Sheep of His Hand
[This devotion is the final part of a 3 Devotion series on The Venite.]
Psalm 95:7
As we continue meditating on The Venite. That song from the office of Matins, which is Psalm 95. I want to read one more verse to you. Verse seven of Psalm 95
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. (Psalm 95:7)
As we consider this song as the perfect morning hymn, as we’re preparing to use our hands to go out and accomplish the work God has for us, we look at our God’s hands. And here the third time in this Psalm, we see God’s hands described for us, now as a shepherd’s hands. Holding his sheep. We are the sheep of his hand. We often think of the shepherd holding the staff aloft, the shepherd’s crook by which he guides the sheep. But of course, that staff is in the shepherd’s hand, and the shepherd’s hand is of so much more importance than just the staff by itself. The staff is there to point to the hand of the shepherd, so that the shepherd can bestow his love on the sheep as he pets them, lovingly moves them along, uses those hands in working to shear the sheep, to feed the sheep, to water the sheep, to birth the lambs. Those hands are intimately at work among the sheep.
Now, as we, these sheep, go about accomplishing the work that God has for us. Ultimately, we’re receiving all the work that he is giving to us. We’re receiving the blessings. This good Shepherd is guiding us in good pastures everywhere we go. It might not always be apparent, but everywhere we go he has blessings in store for us. He is guiding us along every step, whether it’s along the greenest pastures or in the deepest, darkest valleys. We belong to that shepherd. He not only guides us by those hands, he holds us in those hands, those very hands that once again were pierced for our transgressions. Those hands that formed us out of the dust. Those hands that open to feed us every day. And those hands that embrace us with his love, his undeserved love and holy grace that he gives us especially and most significantly in His Son, Jesus Christ.
His hands open now also to you in His Word. He reads this word to you through the mouths of pastors and fellow Christians, or through your own eyes, perusing this word. This is the green pasture on which you can feed throughout your daily work, and you can know as you go about that work that your father is pleased with you. Your God loves you, sanctifies all that work. He is working through you. Rest in him and enjoy the blessings that he has for you.
