Recently, in need of a more visible God, I began envisioning myself reaching out to hold His hand when I was straying, or in need of wisdom, or getting ready to open my mouth.  Just a little moment where I mentally held out my open hand in invitation to a hand-hold.

And being the kind of God He is, He lavished that tiny God-ward act with 10 times more than I asked.  The next morning in the pre-dawn quiet time, I read Isaiah 42:6:  “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.”

I am not kidding.  It was that clear and direct an acceptance, an “I would love to hold your hand!”

And lest I call it a coincidence, three days later He honored me again with Psalm 73:23, “Yet I am always with you, you hold me by my right hand.”  I was not doing a Google search.  I was reading from the Jesus Calling devotional for November written in 2004.

If the intricacies of the eyeball and the opposable thumb don’t convince me of a sovereign God, the immense unlikelihood of the timing of those verses selected 10 years ago for November 13^th and 16^th coming to me the day after I looked God’s way with an inarticulate plea does convince me.  Not just of His sovereignty, but of His love.  That He would look at a wall-flower and say He would love to dance.  That He would have His acceptance letter ready a decade in advance.  That He would flood, flood, flood with happy grace and love.

And all I did was hold out my hand.  Wow.