Imprints of Love by Judith Bronte "But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." ~ Isaiah 49:14 ~ as God forsaken and forgotten us? Read what God replies to Zion's despair. (See if you can discern which part of the Godhead is speaking.) "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me." ~ Isaiah 49:15-16 ~ Hint: "Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing." ~ John 20:27 ~ Ah! We so easily forget Him, but He cannot so easily forget us. Jesus has engraved us upon His hands in the form of nail prints. It was for us that He bore the cross. Our names are imprinted in His hands. Imagine for a moment that you had endured the cross and were left with scars in the palms of both hands. Every time you saw them you would remember. What does Jesus think of when He looks at those scars? "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands". He thinks of us. But Jesus does not stop there. "Thy walls are continually before me." What does it mean for someone's wall to be continually before one? It is the picture of someone on the outside, looking in. He is standing outside our walls, where we live, waiting for us to open the door and let Him in. He cannot forget us, so He continually stands outside our dwelling, and waits for us to repent. If you read Isaiah forty-nine in context, you will find that Israel has shut the door to their God, so He stands outside, wooing them to open the door. Jesus: "Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away" (Song 2:10). But what does the Bride reply? Bride: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether" (Song 2:16-17). Confident that she can find Him when she wants Him, the Bride turns away her Beloved's plea to open the door. Jesus: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Revelations 3:20-21). To the backslidden, Jesus stands without; but, to those that "have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16), Jesus abides within. They have opened the door to their Beloved, and He abides in them and with them. They eat with Him, and share the same throne with Him. Blessed union! So now, when I am tempted to despair, and like Zion, say, "The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me," I hear the Lord's voice whisper, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands". You may republish this without permission, provided it remains free, accredited and unaltered. Copyright © 2008 Sarah Fall (aka Judith Bronte).