The Everlasting
Arms
The
eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the
everlasting arms… (Deuteronomy 33:27)
Of
course God does not have arms like we do. This is what
the learned people call an anthropomorphism
which means that in order to understand some of God and
to relate to Him, we attribute to Him human
characteristics. (The word is made up of two main parts
“anthro” meaning man and “morph” meaning to take the
shape or form of.) We do not only use anthropomorphisms
for God, but also for other things like the weather. We
speak about an angry sky. The sky cannot be angry but it
certainly describes something in terms we are very well
acquainted with.
There are
false teachers who very literally ascribe human
attributes to God. I heard one of these say that God is
5 ft 11 inches tall and has a 4 ½ inch span to His hand.
Well that’s not my God. The God of the Bible is Spirit
and is not like us. He is far greater, more wonderful
and infinitely more majestic. We have problems
visualizing a Being that does not have a body like us,
but that is exactly the point. He is so much more
wonderful than we. As a worm looks up at a man and does
not have a clue about the power of a man’s body and
mind, so we look up to God and we really don’t have an
inkling about His glory.. That is why we are grateful
that Jesus came in a human form so that we can get a
slightly better understanding of God.
Back to
the verse. When it speaks about the “everlasting arms”
it speaks first about God’s strength. In Bible times
man’s arm was a symbol of strength. In some societies
it still has this symbolism in the form of a raised arm
with a clenched fist. Psalm 89:13 says: “You have a
mighty arm; strong is Your hand, and high is Your right
hand.” Yes God’s arm is mighty. In fact it is almighty.
We have real limits to how much weight we can pick up,
but there is no limit to God’s strength. He is
all-powerful and has unlimited power.
God’s arm
often refers to His ability to save. In Exodus 6:6 He
says to Israel “I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and with great judgments.” Isaiah says
“The Lord has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all
the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The
salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10). Yes, He stretches
His arm out to those who are drowning in their sin and
despair and pulls them out of their circumstances and
places their feet on the Rock.
In the
Gospels we read about Jesus taking the little children
into His arms speaking about the love, care and
protection with which He embraces all those who come to
Him. We can only embrace one or two people at a time but
He can embrace all who will flee to Him.
I am so
glad God’s arms are everlasting. Our arms grow tired too
soon. We can only pound nails for a short while, before
our arms fall limp by our side, but His arms are
everlasting. They never grow old, they never weaken and
the never need to rest. Their strength never fails and
they last for ever. Long after they have done all the
saving, comforting and creating that needs to be done,
they will still be as strong as the day it all started.
2
Chronicals 32:8 speaks about the weakness of the arm of
flesh (man’s arm) and yet we so often put our trust in
the arm of flesh which is very weak, limited and will
fade away. If you were being swept away by a powerful
river and a child stretched out his arm, but at the same
time, a giant stretched out his arm, would you grab the
hand of the child or the giant? Why then do you grab the
arm of flesh when God’s mighty arm is also outstretched?
Seems crazy, yet that is exactly what we do most of the
time.
When it
says His everlasting arms are underneath, it first
reminds me that they are close when we need them. God is
not far away or out of reach. He is right there where
you are. He is within “arms reach”. You don’t have to
send for Him, He does not have to come from over the
sea. He is right there where you need Him. Again it is
strange that we will phone or e-mail someone who is a
long way from us when we have problems and we look right
past the everlasting arms that are right where we are.
His arms
being underneath speak about the fact that He is
there to catch me when I stumble or fall. He does not
have to wait for us to fall on our faces before He
stretches out His arm. No they are underneath us all the
time, ready to strengthen, steady and uphold us. Psalm
37:17 says “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous.” How reassuring to
know He is not only steadying us when our legs feel weak
but He also holds us up. Unfortunately we often think we
are actually standing on our own feet and don’t realize
that we are being upheld by Him.
Throw
yourself on Him with all your cares, fears and weakness.
Lean on Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And
lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5)
What
have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms
Anton
Bosch
Anton
Bosch
antonbosch@sbcglobal.net
www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
Tel 818 846 5520
Fax 818 846 4357
3310 West
Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, California
91505-2907
USA