Hand on My Head

Pastor Mark used an illustration of Luke 1:66 this past Sunday that hit home in a huge way for me.

His youngest son needed to use the restroom while they were at a crowded restaurant. As they moved through the throng of people, Mark reached out and placed his hand lovingly on his son's head, guiding the boy (who of course was much shorter than him and couldn't see where he needed to go) through the crowd toward the restrooms. Not shoving him, not pushing him, just sort of steering him through the crowd. The boy reached up and placed his own hand upon his Father's.

That is the picture of the Christian life. That is the picture of the kind of Father that God is. That is the picture of the kind of child each of us is before Him.

There's a lot at stake there. We can't see through the crowd; we're too small. We put everything on the line when we trust in the leadership and the guidance of our Father. Our job, our family, our relationships, our reputation, our time, our dreams, our pain, our past, our future. When we surrender those things to His authorship and his direction, we lose control over them. They become His tools for our sanctification instead of our idols for our worship. And that is terrifying.

I'll be honest. I'm scared.

I'm scared of what lies out there in the crowd. I'm scared I won't be able to find the proverbial restroom. I'm scared I'll somehow dislodge my Father's hand from my head and that I'll get lost. I'm scared I'll step on someone's toes and hurt them as we pick our way through the crowd.

Yet the Bible tells me I don't need to be.

I Don't Need to Fear What's Out There in the Crowd

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

"If God is for us who can be against us?"

Romans 8:31

I Don't Need to Fear I Won't Find the Restroom

"for the Lord knows the way of the righteous..."

Psalm 1:6

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Psalm 16:11

I Don't Need to Fear I'll Dislodge His Hand

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:4-6

"I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:20

"No one will snatch them out of my hand."

John 10:28

I Don't Need to Fear I'll Hurt Someone

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."

Romans 8:28

So tonight I pray for rest in that truth. I'm going to bed to sleep in the sweet knowledge that my Father's hand is on my head.