The Bigger Hands – ABBA

Richard, a young 7-year-old son of Mr Mathias, was at the grocery store with His Dad doing some grocery-shopping. After paying for the groceries at the counter, the store owner took an interest in young Richard. Looking at the large jar of candy right next to him, he asked the little boy, Richard, to grab a handful of sweets from his jar.

Richard looked up at his dad as though waiting for approval. His dad, wondering why he turned to him, gave Richard a nod, signalling him to accept the gift from the store owner. However, Richard still did not move an inch.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Richard’s dad, exasperated, took the groceries in one hand, and with the other hand reached for the jar and took a handful of candy for his son. On their way out, he noticed Richard’s mood had suddenly become brighter with lots of smiles as he took one of the candies from his dad’s hands.

Then his dad turned and asked him, ‘Richard, why didn’t you take the candy when the store owner asked you to?

Richard joyfully replied, “Daddy, your hand is bigger than mine”.

On hearing that, Richard’s dad realized how brilliant his boy was and was amazed at his awareness of his and his father’s capabilities. Richard could’ve carried the candy himself, but he knew that if his dad carried it, he would have more.

Richard and his dad in this story represent our relationship with God, our Father. The shop owner represents the world, offering us to reach out and take all the good stuff; the good job, the expensive cars, the achievements, the accolades, the awards, and all the enticing things we could think of.

I imagine most of us reaching out to grab the goodies as fast as we can without any hesitation. We barely look out for the confirmatory nod of our parents as we were taught in our African homes or wait for them to reach out their hands to give to us, as Richard did.

I have come to learn that God will only sustain what He has given us as his children and not what we’ve gone out to fight for or collect without His approval. Clearly, God has a divine script for our lives and is only committed to what He has authored. The moment we try to deviate from His plan and desire for us, we might succeed and indeed get some sweets, but it’ll never be compared to the quantity or quality we’d have gotten if God our Father gave us with His bigger hand.

In John 17:12, Jesus prayed concerning us to God the Father, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.“

We see that Jesus could do all He did by the name God gave Him. Like Jesus, we can and will do much more if we’re patient for the father to give us and not rush into using our little hands to accumulate or grab them for ourselves.

I sincerely pray that we’re not going to be deceived by the world system into thinking that what we can get for ourselves will ever be better than what ABBA gets for us. We should only receive as the father leads us or gives unto us and not as our fleshy desires lead us.

Remember, ABBA’s hand is way bigger than yours.