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             Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. (Isaiah 49:15-16)

          The “engraved you on the palms of my hands” idea is strange to us in some ways. Biblehub.com suggests that it refers to slave and soldier tattoos: “Egyptians and later Persians engraved the names of deities or masters on the hands of devotees. Yahweh inverts the custom—He is the Master who bears the marks of His servants.” (Biblehub.com link)

          Somewhere and somewhen, I read that travelers would draw or write on their hands the place they wanted to go back to. I can only share that as a bit of gossip because I don’t find evidence of it now. But, people tattoo themselves with names or even pictures of loved ones today, and then there’s the old idea of cheating on a test by writing answers on one’s hand or arm so you can remember them, or writing someone’s phone number on your hand to remember it. So, this idea isn’t too far outside of our understanding.

          But when people get tattoos with names or faces of loved ones, or even symbols that represent those people, it’s not really because they fear they’ll forget the person. In fact, if dementia or some other brain injury were to deprive the person of the memories, the name, face, or symbol wouldn’t help them. And God doesn’t have a hand, and He is all knowing, so it’s not like He can forget except as a matter of choice, and even then, we’re not really forgotten so much as left on our own.

          In both of the cases, what’s involved is more an act of devotion than a memory aid. In a sense, it’s like the banner idea, only instead of His banner waving over you and me, our banner (or maybe more like our token or favor- our scarf, ribbon, or other fluttery piece of material that a lady might give to a knight) given to Him.

          This brings two ideas to mind. The first is “my God.” If you want to prove to me that you know nothing about God, make some claim about “my God.” By definition, God doesn’t belong to anyone. But this suggests that there is a way that “my God” can be appropriate. It depends on what comes before or after those words. The second goes back to my whole “no God symbol on my car, no crosses, nothing to identify me as a Christian to someone else because I’ll embarrass God.” Apparently, God has a bumper sticker with my name on it on His cloud chariot. Or maybe my Grace Cottage logo. Or my books on His bookshelves.

          What does He have of yours?

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