We do not know which to wonder the most at

(Charles Spurgeon)

Isaiah 49:14. "Zion said: The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me!"

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?

Isaiah 49:15-16. "Can a mother forget the baby at her bosom and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands!"

The Lord's loving word of rebuke should make us blush. He cries, "How can I have forgotten you-when I have engraved you on the palms of My hands?"

We do not know which to wonder the most at: the faithfulness of God-or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promise a thousand times-and yet our next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails-and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears.

"Behold!" is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that sinful rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love, as to be written upon the palms of His hands.

The name is there, but that is not all: "I have engraved you-your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works-I have engraved you, everything about you, all that concerns you-I have engraved you altogether on the palms of My hands!"

Will you ever say again that God has forsaken you-when He has engraved you upon His own palms?