His Hands – Part 2 of 3

Last week we covered about one third of the Bible verses that describe God’s hands. As a quick review we learned about His strong hand, His powerful hand, His striking hand, His mighty hand, His heavy hand, His supporting hand, His disciplining hand, His holding hand, His forming hand, and His victorious hand.

Last week I had us take a close look at our hand… the color, blemishes, smoothness, roughness, manicured, scarred, young, old, straight, crooked, painful, pain free.

This week I want to share some medical, anatomical facts about our hands that God created. The hand consists of a palm with four, folding fingers and one opposing thumb. Each finger has three bones with joints that allow bending. The thumb has two bones with two joints. Muscles and tendons are attached to the 27 bones. The hand is controlled by the brain. The right hand is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain and the left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere. The brain sends signals to the hand, telling it what it wants it to do. Two muscle groups take that message and accomplish movement in the hand.

Extrinsic muscles extend from the forearm in the form of flexors and extensors. Intrinsic muscles are located inside the hand. Extensors straighten the fingers out. Flexors allow the fingers to bend and grasp. The thumb has two flexors that help with holding onto objects.

The brain signals the muscles in the arm, wrist and hand to cooperate by using the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles to move the hand. With its impressive number of bones and joints, the hand can be used as a tool, or a means of communication.

The hand is one of the most sophisticated aspects of the human body. Humans have the most intricate muscles and bones in our hands so we can do very delicate manipulations to small objects.

Did you know your legs are about 50 times stronger than your arms? And the weakest parts of your arms are your hands. As far as sensitivity, your hands have almost the same number of nerve endings as rest of your body (not including the toes, tongue, and lips). About one fourth of all our body’s bones are found in our hands. The fingers on one hand will be flexed and extended about 25 million times over the course of one lifetime. And the hand also has very sensitive “antennae” for receiving stimuli from the environment: There are a total of 17,000 touch receptors and free nerve endings in the palm for passing on sensations of pressure, movement and vibration, so it is with good reason that the sense of touch is associated so strongly with the hand. Now let’s look at 10 more adjectives the Bible uses to describe God’s hands.

His creating hand:
Psalm 102:25

Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. Psalm 102:24-26 (in Context) Psalm 102 (Whole Chapter)

Isaiah 45:12

I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command. Isaiah 45:11-13 (in Context) Isaiah 45 (Whole Chapter)

"How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?" is one of PRB's most popular articles. First published in 1995 and updated in 2002, this latest 2011 article includes data through mid-2011. How Many People Have Ever Lived On Earth? 108 Billion! NUMBER WHO HAVE EVER BEEN BORN 107,602,707,791 World population in mid-2011 6,987,000,000 Percent of those ever born who are living in 2011 6.5 Source: Population Reference Bureau estimates.

How many stars are in the universe? Based on current estimates, there are between 200 - 400 billion stars in our galaxy (The Milky Way). There are possibly 100 billion galaxies in the Universe. So about 3 septillion. This has been equated to the same number of grains of sand that are on Earth.

One source (BBC) stated that there are about 1,000 stars to every grain of sand on Earth!! There are an estimated 100 to 200 billion galaxies.

So taking a conservative number of 100 billion stars per galaxy gives an approximate total of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. (Which is 10 sextillion)

The newest estimates gained by the Hubble space telescope places the estimate of 500 billion Galaxies each with about 300 billion stars for each galaxy.

Isaiah 48:13
It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.” Isaiah 48:12-14 (in Context) Isaiah 48 (Whole Chapter)

More about the stars from the Word of God… Psalm 147:4 He counts the stars and calls them all by name. Psalm 147:3-5 (in Context) Psalm 147 (Whole Chapter)

Our little granddaughter Vivie is two years old and can count to 12… and WE are impressed! God can count all the stars AND knows their name… are WE impressed?

His blessing hand:
Psalm 139:5
You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Psalm 139:4-6 (in Context) Psalm 139 (Whole Chapter)

Isaiah 66:14
When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the LORD’s hand of blessing on his servants— and his anger against his enemies. Isaiah 66:13-15 (in Context) Isaiah 66 (Whole Chapter)

Numbers 6 (NLT)
The Priestly Blessing 22 Then the LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing: 24 ‘May the LORD bless you and protect you. 25 May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. 26 May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’ 27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”
His guiding hand:
Psalm 139:10
even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. Psalm 139:9-11 (in Context) Psalm 139 (Whole Chapter)
His open hand:
Psalm 145:16
When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. Psalm 145:15-17 (in Context) Psalm 145 (Whole Chapter)
His gathering hand:
Isaiah 11:11
In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people— those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. Isaiah 11:10-12 (in Context) Isaiah 11 (Whole Chapter)

His judging hand:
Isaiah 14:26
I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon all the nations. Isaiah 14:25-27 (in Context) Isaiah 14 (Whole Chapter) Zephaniah 3:15 For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the LORD himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster. Zephaniah 3:14-16 (in Context) Zephaniah 3 (Whole Chapter) Matthew 25:33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Matthew 25:32-34 (in Context) Matthew 25 (Whole Chapter)

His secure hand:
Isaiah 43:13 “From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” Isaiah 43:12-14 (in Context) Isaiah 43 (Whole Chapter)
His protecting hand:
Isaiah 51:16
And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, ‘You are my people!’” Isaiah 51:15-17 (in Context) Isaiah 51 (Whole Chapter)

His turning hand:
Lamentations 3:3
He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. Lamentations 3:2-4 (in Context) Lamentations 3 (Whole Chapter)

His clapping hands:
There was the famous commercial we’ve all seen for the product called “The Clapper”… “Clap on. Clap off. The Clapper!” Can you imagine the effect on this world when God claps his hands? I found two verses in the Bible that refer to his “clapping” hands.

Ezekiel 21:17
I, too, will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury. I, the LORD, have spoken!” Ezekiel 21:16-18 (in Context)
8 Then the LORD said to me, 9 “Son of man, give the people this message from the Lord: “A sword, a sword is being sharpened and polished. 10 It is sharpened for terrible slaughter and polished to flash like lightning! Now will you laugh? Those far stronger than you have fallen beneath its power![b] 11 Yes, the sword is now being sharpened and polished; it is being prepared for the executioner. 12 “Son of man, cry out and wail; pound your thighs in anguish, for that sword will slaughter my people and their leaders— everyone will die! 13 It will put them all to the test. What chance do they have?[c] says the Sovereign LORD. 14 “Son of man, prophesy to them and clap your hands. Then take the sword and brandish it twice, even three times, to symbolize the great massacre, the great massacre facing them on every side. 15 Let their hearts melt with terror, for the sword glitters at every gate. It flashes like lightning and is polished for slaughter! 16 O sword, slash to the right, then slash to the left, wherever you will, wherever you want. 17 I, too, will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Closing prayer.