One of the problems we face when we think about God is that there is far more that we don’t know about God than we do know about God. How do you think about God? A powerful Judge? A stern, but fair, father figure? A loving parent? A great forgiver of sin? The Creator and Sustainer of the Universe? Someone who gives you goosebumps when you sense His Presence? Your Friend? Yes! God is all of these things! Today’s passage can help us to think about God in a more intimate way, so let’s listen to it together.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands... (Isaiah 49:15-16)

I like this passage because it helps us to see God in a far more intimate light. Mothers love their babies in tender and devoted ways. God compares and then contrasts His love for us with the love mothers have for their babies. Mothers don’t forget their babies, but God says that even if they did, He would never forget us. Then Isaiah tells us that God says, “See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” I don’t know if you ever did this in elementary school, but I remember writing on the palm of my hand the name of a girl I really liked. Why? Because I wanted to think about her. The Contemporary English Translation concludes verse 16 this way: “You are always in My thoughts!” Wow! God loves you so much that He writes your name on His hand because He’s always thinking about you. What a wonderful and comforting thought: God wants to think about you—and that’s such very Good News!