If you know the song “Put your hand in the Hand”, you are giving away your age. The song was written by Gene MacLellan in 1971. It was first sung by the famous singer Anne Murray, but actually made famous by the Canadian gospel group, Ocean. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Many others later also recorded the song, among them Elvis Presley.

The song begins with the chorus:

Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water
Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea
Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently
By puttin’ your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee

In the late sixties and early seventies, people searched hard for their identity. Everything goes, was the norm of the day. People were lost and on the wrong path. Everyone was searching, and Gene gave them some advice with this song.

Put your hand in the hand of the Big Man. Put your hand in the hand of the Man who talks to the sea, and it calms down. Put your hand in the hand of the Man from Galilee who did all the miracles.

If you put your hand in God’s hand, you see yourself differently. You see you have value. You see you have a purpose. All of a sudden you know what your identity is. You see the right path. You also see your sin.

And that’s not such a nice picture, but if you see it, you can try to do something about it. If you put your hand in God’s hand, you become ashamed, and uncomfortable, and then you want to get rid of it.

⁷So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life.

Submit to God. Make God the complete owner of your life and drive away the others who think they control it. Clean house. Remember, when you put your hand in God’s hand, you get new glasses.

Then you see the wrong things you do. The instruction is to stop doing them. Eradicate them. Put up guards to stop you from doing it again. Put your hand in God’s hand.

How? Gene helps us further in the song by referring to the Holy Book and his mother who taught him to pray when he was seven. And this is exactly how we can hold on tighter and tighter to God’s hand. We must read His Word and talk to Him all the time. Then He will hold our hand ever tighter!

Scripture
James 4:7-12

Reflection
Is your hand in God’s hand?
Are you holding on tight to God’s hand?
What should you do?

Prayer
Father, I know I must hold on tighter and tighter to Your hand. I know I need to read and study Your Word more and talk to You more. I want to do this every day from now on. And yes, I want to stop sinning! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.