I will place my hand in His great hand
And I know, for sure, He’ll understand.
I am not so sure which way I should go
But I am convinced that He will know.
I do not fathom, and I don’t understand
But nothing can take me from His hand.
Content in His hand, it is safe to say
That I will be cared for every day.
It is by His great hand I am safely led
And it is by His hand I am daily fed.
It is His hand that leads when I can’t see
It is His hand that keeps where I should be.
So in His hand I will be forever content
And always happy, wherever I am sent.
In His strong hand, I will place my all
And quietly wait for His welcome call.
I will be listening for His kind voice
When I hear it, I shall sing and rejoice.
May I be content to go, or yet to stay
For I place my hand in His hand today.
My grandfather was a preacher as well as holding down many other jobs. He was content to let God lead in his life. In Isaiah 61, the prophet starts out so powerfully when he tells us, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”
Just think what his mission was? He was anointed by God to preach to the meek, bind the brokenhearted, give liberty to captives and to comfort those who mourn. That’s a pretty tall order but I know that he was up for the task. There was another great Man Who was up for the task, too.
“As Isaiah was authorized and directed to proclaim liberty to the Jews in Babylon, so was Christ, God’s messenger, to publish a more joyful jubilee to a lost world.” (Matthew Henry)
Luke 4: 17, 18 & 21 says, “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
How was Isaiah up for the task as well as Christ? They both had the Spirit of the Lord on them. They knew they had help. Today, we, as Christians, have the Spirit of the Lord with us, the Holy Spirit, and we can help the same types of people heal and be set free.
What happens to all these broken and sick people when Christ comes into their lives; when we help them see Him as their Savior? Verse 3 explains it this way, “…to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”
Beauty For Ashes
Failure, we’ve all been there. We’ve all had moments when we wanted to sit down and quit or cry because we have failed at something. Peter was a man that had failure near the end of Jesus’ life. Do you remember when Jesus told him that before the cock crowed three times, that Peter would deny His Lord? Oh, Peter, he didn’t believe him and yet when it happened he ran out and wept bitterly.
Jesus knew that Peter would fail but Jesus also knew that years later the beauty that would arrive out of those ashes of failure was the beautiful feet Peter had taking the gospel all over the known world and eventually giving his life in a martyr’s death for his Savior! He had beauty for ashes. Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
Oil Of Joy For Mourning
“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;” (Psalm 30:11) David had just come through what some believe was a dreadful sickness and he was so thankful to his God for health. His mourning was over and gladness had returned. Life was full of joy again.
Matthew 5:4 promises us, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Where does that comfort come from? Isaiah 52:9 holds the key, “Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.” The Lord is our comfort! This is a great verse because it tells us to go ahead and break out into joy and sing together!! We are comforted by the Lord so why would we not sing?
Garment Of Praise For The Spirit Of Heaviness
Have you ever cried out with the psalmist, “My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word,” Psalm 119:28? Life can get heavy at times and by heavy I mean we truly do feel the weight of it. We live in a fallen world and even as Christians we can be susceptible to troubling times and difficult paths. The difference with having Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit in our lives is that we don’t have to stay there.
Proverbs 12:25, “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.” This verse reminds us that we can have a good word to lift our heavy spirits. A good word can come first and foremost from God’s Word. Do you run to your Bible when you feel the heaviness in your heart?
Another way to have a good word is to start praising God and singing. Songs of praise to God is such a great way to heal so many broken hearts and so many heavy spirits. We can put on “garments of praise” because who can keep a heavy spirit if they are praising their Creator? “I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.” Psalm 9:1 tells us that we can praise Him with our whole heart. It’s so hard to keep a heavy spirit when our whole heart is praising Him.
So what is the conclusion to changing our hearts from heavy to joyful?
Isaiah tells us that we will then be trees of righteousness for His glory! If we can show the world how we can live above the trials and depressions and harsh things thrown at us then we can say confidently that He is our Lord and glorify Him. Others will then want to come and have their heavy spirits lifted and His name will be further glorified.