The Open Hand - ‘A study in giving’

The Open Hand

‘A study in giving’.

"These all look to you…you open your hand; they are filled with good things." (Psalm 104:27‑28 NRSV).

One of the most persistently reiterated themes of Holy Writ is man’s utter helplessness to direct his life without God. At every turn of life man comes up against his need, though it is but rarely that he realizes the extent of that need. The absoluteness of this need is not brought home to the heart or mind of man, because of the universal generosity of Almighty God. Only if God withdrew His activities from this planet entirely would man come face to face with the absoluteness and universality of his needs. If God kept back the rains which fall impartially upon the just and the unjust, if He withheld the fruitful seasons (Acts 14:17) with their bounteous harvests; if He locked up His winds in their treasuries; then man would realise the utter helplessness of his position in this scheme of things. The effects of local famines have been serious and have brought ruin and destruction to man and beast. But these famines have usually been relatively local: there has mostly been abundance elsewhere, and relief has often been despatched from the region of the abundance to the place of want. God has never withheld His gifts worldwide. He has never caused the universal harvest to fail. So unfailingly, yet naturally, has the bountiful God bestowed His gifts, that men sow, doubting not for a moment but that they will reap, and call the sowing and reaping Nature’s common round. But should God withhold His hand, their sowing would be vain—man may plant, and man may water but without God there would be no increase.

The other side of the question, obverse to man’s need, is God’s ability and disposition to give. These two factors in universal life are complementary to each other. God is the source of unfailing abundance, man the creature of unending need. (Psalm 104).No less is this so in the religious life of man. Here again the persistently reiterated theme of Holy Writ is man’s utter helplessness and universal need. Again the other side of the question obverse to man’s need, is God’s ability and disposition to give. The beginning of God’s generosity to fallen men dates from Eden days, when in the act of imposing the sentence required by His broken Law, God promised Mother Eve that her seed should eventually bruise the Serpent’s head. (Gen.3:15) God gave her there a promise, His gift. This form of gift He repeated to Noah, in that He promised summer and winter, seed‑time and harvest. To Abraham, God gave that most wonderful promise that is the basic feature of the whole plan of redemption. By the gift of His promises God gave hope to fallen man. God had promised blessing that gave man hope and expectancy.

God gave Abraham a son, then a nation. To that nation God gave His Word and His Law; those "living oracles" (Acts 7:38) that Moses received at Sinai. That Law was the most advanced moral standard of its day, and had it been obeyed would have raised Israel high above the nations around. That sacred gift from Sinai, forms an important section of the Holy Book that we treasure as the Word of Life. He gave Israel a Tabernacle so that He might give them the benefit of His presence in their midst. He gave them the good land on which the eye of God rests with holy delight. (Exodus 3:8; Deut.11:12). He gave them judges and deliverers when they fell into captivity. He gave them reformers who led them back to their "oracles," and "seers" who carried their minds forward to higher expectations. God gave them advancement and prominence among the nations, under David and Solomon, when the fame of Israel’s king spread to the distant quarters of the world. The two nations of later days were given the benefit of God’s patience and long‑suffering, though they fast became vessels fit only for destruction. (Rom.9:22) They became inveterately idolatrous so first Israel and then Judah were given the spirit of slumber. (Rom.11:8). Under the conditions this was a boon to them; for the blindness which came, minimized the degree of their responsibility. So, because God thus concluded them all in unbelief, He will be able in His Kingdom to have mercy upon all. "and so all Israel will be saved." (Rom.11:26). Isaiah, commissioned to deliver the message of rejection, said "...the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep" and "has closed your eyes..." (Isa.29:10‑16) yet he concludes his denunciation with the statement "Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field?" (v.17 KJV). The gift of slumber, while it deprived the two nations of their land for centuries will have kept the national spirit in a state of hunger for the appearance of Messiah as an exalted king.

In due course God gave to the returned remnant nation in Jerusalem His greatest and best gift, His well‑beloved Son. This was the gift that lay dearest to His own heart. Jesus came to earth bearing the tidings of the Almighty’s great love for men, especially for those who were children of God’s friend. (Jas.2:23; Isa.41:8). What tremendous possibilities God set before that generation in Jerusalem when Messiah came to them! (Dan.9:25). In the first place God purposed to give repentance for their national sins to Israel through His Son. (Luke 1:68‑79; Acts 5:31). God desired to touch the deeper springs of their hearts by the ministry of His well‑beloved son, and thus to lead them to repentance.

Again, Jesus was destined to be a bearer of light to His people. God wanted to give understanding to that generation, so that it might comprehend what His higher purposes were; that heavenly things were about to begin. To those who were responsive to the new teachings God gave an understanding of the mysteries of the Kingdom. (Matt.13:11; Mark 4:11) "To you it has been given to know" what was "hidden" from other ages.

God gave Jesus to that people, to be to them as the Bread of Life. In manner similar to wilderness days when God strewed the earth morning by morning with manna, so again God provided Living Bread for the children of Abraham. (John 6:27‑65).In some supernatural way the words of the Lord would have sustained their deeper life (John 6:63) and led to eternal life. In some special way His flesh would sustain the life of the world. God gave Living Bread to those who could eat. (John 6:32,51). Again (to vary the "sustenance" figure of speech) God gave Jesus as the Water of Life of which, if one should drink, it should satisfy his thirst forever. (John 4:10‑15).

God gave Israel a shepherd, who would have guided and pastured the flock of God in paths of righteousness. (John 10:1‑16). But there was no beauty about Him that they desired Him. They wanted a King, a conquering Messiah; He came to suffer, a Man of sorrows, an offering for sin. The nation rejected Him, but to as many as did receive him God gave the privilege to become His own sons. (John 1:12). To those whose hands were open to take, God gave many other gifts along with and through His beloved Son! Giving, Giving, Giving all the time, to those who knew their need.

Even after they had despised and crucified His Son, God still kept the door of opportunity open for such as needed more than the ritual and ceremonial of the Temple sacrifice. To many among them the words of Jesus had opened a new world of possibilities. He told of opportunities and privileges, of which their fathers had never heard. (Matt.13:35). He set new longings rising in their hearts, but because they had been powerless against the Sanhedrin and Priests, and had not been able to stop their schemes nor their fearful deed, He had been slain. How readily they listened on that wonderful morn when "Peter stood up with the Eleven" (Acts 2:14 NIV) and told the people that God had raised Him from the dead, and again desired through Him to "give repentance to Israel." (Acts 5:31)

Only a remnant desired that gift of repentance, so God turned to the nations to take out of them a people for His Name. To these also God gave repentance unto salvation."If then God gave them the same gift that He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" said Peter in defence. (Acts 11:17)."Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life" (v.18) was the brethren’s response. Is repentance the gift of God? It certainly is! They who receive the Word into good hearts are such as are "opened" by the Lord.(Acts 16:14). No one comes to the Son except those whom the Father draws (John 6:44,65).The "faith" that saves is God’s gift (Eph.2:8) through the operation of His word (Rom.10:13‑17) and of His Spirit in their hearts. The "peace" that garrisons their hearts comes from God too. (Phil.4:7; John 14:27). This is a precious gift to those who dwell in a tempestuous world. Perfect peace is bestowed upon all who dwell upon the Rock of Ages. (Isa.26:3‑4).

Is love, that most desirable God‑like trait a gift from Him? It is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which He gives us. (Rom.5:5).We cannot add so little as one inch to our spiritual stature by taking thought. It is not impossible to spend too much time talking over the necessity for our growth in love and be all the time forgetful of the fact that Love is a fruitage. (Gal.5:22‑23). It is more a matter of the husbandman’s concern than that of the branch in the vine itself. God is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him than any earthly father is ready to give his children food. (Matt.7:11). The more Holy Spirit power in the heart, the more love to shed abroad in the life. This Love also is a gift from God, for we love because He first loved.

Again, not only is the giving of the Holy Spirit the basis of character development (2 Cor.3:18) but it is also God’s pledge of the inheritance we hope to receive. It is the token that God has taken us into His service, and that the final reward will be sure, if we discharge our duty faithfully, "…God…hath...sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts." (2 Cor.1:21‑22; 2 Cor.5:5 KJV). Moreover, the Holy Spirit is an energizing and stabilizing power. It is not a spirit of fear, but of cool reasoned courage, and of a sound mind. It produces the spirit of sanctity blended with sanity in our minds, a well‑balanced properly ordered sanctification of life. This too is a gift of God and is by no means the outcome of psychological self‑effort. It is God who has prepared for us our resurrection change. The transformation is wrought by His Spirit. (2 Cor.3:18). Then in the day‑to‑day struggle "He giveth grace" to such as go to His Throne of Grace, humbly beseeching assistance in their time of need. (Heb.4:16; James 4:6; 1 Pet.5:5). Thus the whole range of the Christian’s life and experience is called into being and sustained by His gracious gifts, but it does not end even at that, for He will give the complete victory over death, and over the grave. When that which is mortal is swallowed up in victory, the faithful footstep follower of the Lord will see Him and be with Him for evermore. "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor.15:57).

From first to last, the Christian’s life is one of receiving; for what has he, that he has not received? It is a life of faith with an open hand, with courage to ask and take. It is the story of a great need which grows as it feeds, and which is more pronounced at the end of the way than at the beginning. Thank God, even its deepest need does not exhaust the capacity of the bounteous Giver. Though its demands are presented every day, and yes, many times a day, the riches of His grace are of ample store for each and all that call upon Him.

The story of Divine grace is the record of One who has been disposed to "give," and "give," and "give" again, because it pleases Him to dispense of His fulness to helpless needy men. He created man with a great "need" so that He might play the part of a great giver. Man has but to open his hand to take of that bountiful fulness which God opens His hand to give. (Psalm 104:27‑28). If God withheld not his well‑beloved Son "shall He not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom.8:32 KJV). Christian experience of this and other days shows without fail that they who are most developed in grace are the ones most conscious of their need. The more one has grown in the things of the Lord, and the more tender and sensitive the heart has become, the more such saints become persuaded of their need for God. The ultimate end of every quest of the more mature heart, is not merely to accept the gifts of God, but to receive with open heart the Giver too.

It is good to accept with open hand the gifts of God; it is better far with open heart to accept the Giver Himself. No wealth of earth is so desirable as the gifts of God; the whole world itself is but refuse indeed in comparison with possessing God.