The Hand of the Lord and His Bosom

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?" (Isaiah 40:12).

"He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom" (Isaiah 40:11).

There have been times in our lives when we were self-willed, and apparently untameable, like the great sea. If God writes the story of those days, and indeed He has written it, and if He shows it to us, and, indeed He will show it to us, then what a gasp of astonishment will break from us as we realize the perils we were often in when we raged against restrain. Yet as the sea lies in the hollow of God's hand and is restrained in all its fierce wrath by His power, so were we in those days held and restrained by Him. We were in the hollow of His hand. We felt the restraint, chafed at it and endeavoured to break from it, but we could not. How great is God and how strong, and how small are we and puny. But how shall we bless that mercy for ever that held us in bounds and kept us back from destruction? His hand holds the tumultuous waves in check but He carries His lambs in His bosom. If we are subject to Him, conscious of our need of Him, not self-willed, but delighting to be near to Him we shall surely know the love and protection of His bosom. But what a word it is! His hand upholds creation but His bosom is the place of rest for His lambs. All creation must acknowledge His power, its wildest forces are held in check by Him, His bosom is open for the weakest of His lambs, they know His love. And if He has restrained us by His mighty hand it is that we might know the rest and the safety and joy of His bosom.