“In the 25th year of our exile at the beginning of the year, on the 10th day of the month, in the 14th year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me to the city.”
– Ezekiel 40:1
I just want to meditate with you for a moment and then pray according to this phrase, the hand of the Lord was upon me. What a powerful picture that we see all throughout the Bible? At different times on different people, the hand of the Lord upon someone.
Now, there are times when we see God’s hand upon someone in judgment. But actually, most of the time that we see this phrase, we see God’s hand upon someone in a special way, blessing them, leading them, guiding them, speaking to them like we see here in Ezekiel. And judgment is off oftentimes a picture of God taking his hand off of someone, basically giving someone over to themselves or giving a entire group of people or nation over to themselves. It just makes me think as I go into today, as you go into today, tomorrow, in our lives, isn’t this the one thing we most want and need? Don’t we want and need the hand of the Lord upon us? Don’t you want that in your life today? His hand blessing you, leading you, guiding you, directing you, anointing you.
And even as I say that, I think about Jesus’s promise to all who trust in Him. So to every follower of Jesus, what did he say? You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Do you realize this? You have the Holy Spirit upon you, in you, the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, so let’s just pray.
God, help us to live in the fullness of this, of your Holy Spirit upon us. Help us to realize right now for all of us who are in Jesus, that your Holy Spirit is in us and on us. And God, we want the fullness of your Holy Spirit on us. We don’t want any sin to limit the fullness, the power, the beauty, the wonder of your Holy Spirit in us. Cleanse us from sin. God, help us to run from sin that we might live in the fullness of your Holy Spirit and your hand upon us. Please God, amidst all that we have today. Just think through the different things you have going on in your life today, tomorrow, God, may your hand be upon us in the middle of it all and may we be aware of this. God, aware of your presence with us, of your guiding hand in our lives, of your Holy Spirit empowering us, bearing fruit. God, we pray for the fruit of your spirit, your hand on us for love and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self control to just flow from the power of your spirit, your hand upon us today. That we would be as you promise we would be in Acts 1:8, witnesses by the power of your Holy Spirit today.
God, may your hand be upon us that the gospel might spread through us today. Oh God, we want your hand, your spirit upon us in full today. So help us to be cognizant of this reality in our lives as your children indwelled by your spirit, and lead us, guide us, direct us today in such a way that we would look back like Ezekiel is here and say, The hand of the Lord was upon us and he brought us here. He spoke to us in this way. He let us in this way. He did this. God made this be our Christian life today and every day. In Jesus name, we pray, in the name of the one who makes this possible. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
