“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” - Isaiah 49:16

Forsaken … some may think God has forsaken our country or our region. Some live with hopelessness, anxiety, and fear. Some think that men have forsaken their role as a fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ. However, this past weekend at our Men’s Conference, our men left with a renewed sense to live “fearless” for God, to live with hope.

As I gazed across the worship center on Friday night, I saw 6th grade boys … I saw college students … I saw men in their 40s and men in their 70s. All of these men were engaged in what the Lord was doing all around them. These men were worshipping together. It was a beautiful sight.  These men responded to what God was doing in their life, and I praised God that He was rising up men of many generations to be “fearless” for God.

As I spoke to men who attended the conference, there were many great comments about the past weekend. Kevin Cortez, a young married adult shepherd, said he loved the fact that the conference was not geared toward self-help philosophies, but it was geared toward every man getting right before God.  I had the privilege to bring my 12-year-old son, Chandler, to the conference. He told me the thing he liked the most was despite the vast range of men there, 12 years old to 70 plus, every person there got something out of the weekend; it was good for everybody. Nick Tyler, who attends the Springdale campus, told me that it was two days of powerful worship and engaging speakers that armed him to live “fearless” at home and in the work place. He also said it was great to be able to have his boys, David (15) & Drew (12) with him at the conference to experience worship with other men.

In Isaiah 49, part of the wonder is concentrated in the word “See,” referring to the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief!  What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favored people? The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, “How can I have forgotten you, when I have engraved you on the palms of My hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon My very flesh?” O unbelief, how strange a marvel you are! We do not know which to wonder at most, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promise a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapor; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert. “See,” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of His hands. “I have engraved you.”  It does not say, “your name.” The name is there, but that is not all:  “I have engraved you.”  See the fullness of this! I have engraved your person, your image, your situation, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works; I have engraved you, everything about you, all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there.

As we experienced all the LORD had for us this past weekend, the key thought that I took home was this … God has engraved me on the palm of His hand.

Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when He has engraved you upon His own palms?