The Jews understood that all these statements about the hand of God were being said in contrast to all the other gods that men have made. The psalmist says that these other gods are not like the living God: “They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (Ps. 115:7). Whether a god is made of stone, wood, gold or silver, or whether it is a projection of the mind of modern men (who make their gods merely in their thoughts), the Bible says there is a great distinction between it and the living God. Such a god (that is, an idol made of stone, wood, etc.) has a hand but cannot do anything with it. He has feet but never takes a step, a mouth and throat but never says a word.
But the true God is not like this. He does not literally have hands, as an idol does, but he is able to work into history any time he wills. He does not have feet, but he will be wherever we need him. Without a mouth he is able to do what men do with theirs, that is, to communicate through verbalization; and he has given us his propositional communication in the Bible.
And through that communication the hand that creates, preserves, chastises, cares for people and provides security, does something else—it invites. God said regarding the Israelites, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts” (Is. 65:2). God invites but the rebellious walk in their own thoughts rather than heeding this invitation.
Spreading out one’s hands in invitation is a natural gesture. If you watch any natural speaker, he will use it without ever having been taught it. When giving any kind of invitation, he will use his hands. “I do the same,” God says. “I stretch out my hands to you. I am constantly extending a sweet invitation, but you hard-hearted and rebellious men do not listen to it.”
So if you are a non-Christian, I would say to you, Will you respond to the invitation of the outreached hands of God? Will you give yourself to the God who is there, the God who has acted and is acting in history? And I would urge Christians also to remember this invitation. Much of the time we, too, are rebellious people. Aren’t we ashamed that even though God stretches out his hand to us day by day we so often turn away?
God’s invitation is not a gesture made only now and then. Look at all the verification that God’s hands are at work. Look over all God’s works in history. Those of you who are children of God, look back in your own personal life and see what God has done. Reach back beyond that into the flow of history. And then remember: The acts of God’s hand are a constant invitation for you to come to him, to stop being rebellious and to have him as your real environment.
Author
Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer was widely recognized as one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the day. He was the author of twenty-two books which have been translated into twenty-five foreign languages, with more than three million copies in print.
Dr. Schaeffer had lectured frequently at leading universities in the U.S. and abroad. With his wife, Edith, the Schaeffers founded L’Abri Fellowship, an international study center and community in Switzerland with branches in England, The Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.S.
This article is taken from his popular book, No Little People, pp. 27-41.
