Forever Kept in the Father’s Hand
“Those who belong to Me hear My voice, and I know ‘em, and they come along with Me; and I give them life everlastin’ so they will never die. And for sure, nobody’s gonna take ‘em from My hand, no-sir-ee! See, My Father has done given ‘em to Me. He’s greater than all; nobody can snatch His own from His hand” John 10:27-29 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).
One day, I playfully reached out and grabbed my 12-year-old daughter when she was walking by, pulled her up close to me and said, “I got you!” “Now what do you want me to do?” She said, “Don’t ever let me go!” I choked out the words, “I never will! I promise!”
That is very much what we hear our Lord saying. In our text, John describes Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” who knows His sheep, those who belong to Him. And as the “Good Shepherd,” Jesus promises to watch over and keep His sheep safe now and throughout eternity, never to let go of those who belong to Him.
And to further emphasize His keeping strength, He tells us that it is His Father, the God of all creation who keeps and holds us by His own omnipotent power . . .
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me . . . and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand . . . My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).
On May 2, 2021, an F-2 tornado tore through a community near Waxahachie, Texas. A man and his five-year-old daughter unable to get out of the path of the destructive force of the winds were picked up and tossed a distance of about 40 feet. The father experienced injuries, but not his daughter. Just before being picked up by the twister, he wrapped his daughter in a blanket and grabbed her with a tight hold. He later told a reporter that he was not about to let go of his daughter while being tossed about by the 120-mile-per-hour winds, and he didn’t.
That’s what our heavenly Father does for us. When we trust Him as our Lord and Savior through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, He holds us in His powerful arms of grace and promises to never let us go.
Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome posed the question, “What can separate us from the love of God?” . . .
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
No matter the intensity of the storm, the darkness of the night, nor the gripping fear of adversity, as a child of God you can know that He will never allow you to slip through the omnipotent grasp of His hand. He will hold you and walk with you through whatever storm, fear or anxiety you may pass. He will not let you go!
The writer of the popular old hymn How Firm a Foundation, says it this way . . .
“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”