PULELULU NOVEMA 8, 2023
Tattooed by Wounds
Kuo u tā koe ‘i hoku ‘aofi nima
ISAIAH 49:15-16
"CAN A WOMAN FORGET HER NURSING CHILD, THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE NO COMPASSION ON THE SON OF HER WOMB? EVEN THESE MAY FORGET, YET I WILL NOT FORGET YOU. BEHOLD, I HAVE ENGRAVED YOU ON THE PALMS OF MY HANDS; YOUR WALLS ARE CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME."
‘AISEA 49:15-16
15 ‘E mangalo koā ‘i ha finemotu‘a ‘ene tamasi‘i kei huhu, ke ‘oua te ne faka‘atu‘i ‘a e tama ‘a hono manava? Tala atu, ka ne mangalo ‘a e fa‘ahinga ko ia, kae ‘ikai mangalo koe ‘iate au. 16 Vakai, kuo u tā koe ‘i hoku ‘aofi nima; ‘oku fe‘ao ma‘u pē mo au ho ngaahi ‘ā.
The psalmist's broken heart cries, "Has God forgotten to be gracious? (77:9). Has his mind become so preoccupied with governing galaxies that I've slipped his memory? Are his hands so busy shuffling planets and stirring oceans that he hasn't the time to hold me? Am I nothing to him anymore? To such questions that rise like smoke from a life in ashes, God replies: "Can a woman forget the babe at her breast, suckling life from her body? Yes, it can happen. Her mind can wander. Yet, dear child, I will never forget you."
How do we know? We, like Zion, have been chaqaq onto the palms of God. Job uses this verb when he wishes his words were "inscribed in a book" (19:23). God tells Ezekiel to engrave (chaqaq) a picture of Jerusalem on a brick (4:1). When the Lord looks at his palms, he sees skin that's been cut by nails, chiseled by pain, and tattooed by wounds into a portrait of his beloved people. Into the very flesh of our God has been engraved the faces of those whom he will never forget.
See us, Lord Jesus, in the nail-pierced hands that betoken your undying mercy.
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