"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hand" (Isaiah 49: 16).
Zion said, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isaiah 49: 14). How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God's favored people? The Lord's loving word of rebuke should make us blush. He cries, "How can I have forgotten thee, when I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands?" Unbelief is a strange marvel! God keeps His promise a thousand times, but the trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails. He is never a dry well. Yet, we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicious, and disturbed with fears as if our God were the mirage of the desert. "Behold" is a word intended to excite admiration. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written on the palms of His hands. "I have grave thee." It does not say, "thy name." The name is there, but that is not all: "I have graven thee." Absorb the fullness of this! Everything about you and all that concerns you have I put there. Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you, since He has graven thee on His own palms?