close your eyes and trust

If someone told you to "put out your hands and close your eyes," what would you do? I know what you might be thinking: Well, that depends on who told me to stretch out my hands and close my eyes. Correct?

Perhaps you even remember a similar experience in your childhood? At school, you might have been in the playground where a prankster, at his request, gave you a slimy toad. They didn't find it funny at all, just disgusting. Or someone used those words to take advantage of you even though you trusted them. You didn't like that either! You hardly let such jokes a second time, but you would probably react with crossed arms and wide eyes.

Thankfully, there are people in our lives who have proven over time that they love us, are there for us, and would never do anything to deceive us or harm us. If one of these people told you to stretch out your hands and close your eyes, you would obey immediately—perhaps even with anticipation, knowing that you were likely to receive something wonderful. Trust and obedience go hand in hand.

Imagine if God the Father told you to stretch out your hands and close your eyes? Would you have complete faith in him and would you obey him? "Now faith is the firm confidence of things hoped for, and not doubting things that are not seen" (Hebrews 11,1).

In fact, it is exactly what the father asked his own son to do. On the cross, Jesus stretched out his hands to share his Father's love with the whole world. Jesus had an everlasting, loving intimacy with his Father. Jesus knew that the Father is good, trustworthy and full of grace. Even as he stretched out his hands on the cross and closed his eyes in death, he knew his father would not let him down. He knew that he would receive something wonderful in the end and he did. He received the faithful hand of the father who raised him from the dead and was allowed to experience the resurrection with him. Now in Jesus, the Father extends the same open hand to you, promising to lift you up in His Son to a marvelous glory beyond anything you can imagine.

A psalm speaks of the faithfulness of the Father: «You open your hand and satisfy all that lives with goodwill. The Lord is just in all his ways and gracious in all his works. The Lord is close to all who call on him, all who call on him earnestly. He does what the righteous desire, and hears their cry and helps them" (Psalm 145,16-19).

If you are looking for someone faithful and close to you, I would suggest that you just open your hands and close your eyes and ask Jesus to show you his father. He will hear your cry and save you.

by Jeff Broadnax