I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the father are one.” John 10:28-30

‘My God is a great big God, and He hold me in His hands!’ Some of the best revelations are so simply stated yet so profound. I love the simplicity of this well-known children’s song and yet what a profound thought! God’s goodness is so beyond our thoughts; we can’t even imagine His greatness; He created the entire universe, the earth and all it contains and yet He holds our lives in His hands.

Recently while walking my daughter home from school, I told her to hold my hands while crossing the road. She was enjoying the freedom of running up and down before this. When I said ‘hold my hand’ she replied, ‘daddy, can I just hold onto this strap’ pointing to the lose strap hanging from the rucksack I was carrying. I said no, but she insisted, ‘but, daddy, I will hold onto it very tightly and I won’t let go’. She was missing the point, what mattered was not that she tried to hold onto me but that I had hold of her. I explained to her that she if she were to fall and I had hold of her, I would catch her mid fall, the responsibility to hold on tight was mine not hers. If she was holding onto me, she might not hold on tightly enough. Or should I need to hurry her along she might find herself unable to keep up, yet if I am holding her, I can pull her to safety. I love my daughter, and I don’t expect the responsibility of ‘holding on’ to be hers, no, it is my responsibility as the father to hold her and even carry her if needs be. It was a good reminder to me that God holds us, it’s not our responsibility to hold onto Him. We sometimes make mistakes and say things like ‘I’ve let God down’, but in reality, we were never holding Him up. Our strength and confidence are in His ability to hold us. Perhaps today you are struggling to follow God, you might feel like no matter how hard you try to hold on you just can’t quite manage it, you don’t have the strength. It’s ok, perhaps its time for you to let God hold you rather you trying to hold onto Him. Many times, we are desperately trying to hold everything together in our lives, our spouse, children, Jobs, homes, hobbies and interests, finances, health and so on… Instead of trying to hold everything together ourselves, why not hand it over into Jesus hands. Almost counterintuitively, the safest hands to be held by are the hands with holes in them.

• Pastor Joseph Jones