BP233
“We touch things every day: a coffee cup, a car door, a computer keyboard. Each time we do, it is likely that we leave behind our unique signature—in our fingerprints.” So says the Forensic Science Simplified website.
This website goes on to say, “No two people have exactly the same fingerprints. Even identical twins, with identical DNA, have different fingerprints. This uniqueness allows fingerprints to be used in all sorts of ways, including for background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and of course, in criminal situations.
“Fingerprint analysis has been used to identify suspects and solve crimes for more than 100 years, and it remains an extremely valuable tool for law enforcement. One of the most important uses for fingerprints is to help investigators link one crime scene to another involving the same person.”
Okay, we all know about human fingerprints and how they are an essential part of a criminal investigation. But did you know that God leaves fingerprints? Well, maybe not exactly literal fingerprints. But can we say that God shows evidence that He is at or has been on the scene of many events in this universe? For sure. Let’s look at some ways God leaves the mark of his finger or hand on so many things in our world because such a “non-criminal” investigation is well worth our time.
Did God leave His fingerprints on creation? In Psalm 8 we read, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Yes, God’s creative fingerprints are found as we investigate the moon, the stars, the sun, the trenches of the ocean, and the rest of the universe. Of course, they are also found on humans as well. Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
God’s fingerprints go far beyond the material universe and men and women who are the imago Dei, the image of God. We can also investigate and discover the presence of His finger on the word of truth: “And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” ~ Exodus 31:18.
But God doesn’t write only on stone tablets. He also leaves His “fingerprints” on walls where His truth can be plainly seen: “Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing” ~ Daniel 5:5.
His fingerprints of truth are also found all over the human heart: For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” ~ Romans 2:14ff.
God’s fingerprints are also found wherever He acts in the human theater. Do you remember the plagues He sent on Egypt to free His people?
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said” ~ Exodus 8:16ff.
We also read of God’s fingerprints in the New Testament. Jesus Himself said, “And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” ~ Luke 11:18ff.
As we read earlier, fingerprints are often used to identify the culprit at a crime scene. Do humans sometimes look at painful things and calamities in their lives and see divine fingerprints all over these events and then conclude that God is unloving or even evil? They might even question His existence.
Certainly, at times, God’s fingerprints (divine attention) can rest heavy on the mortal frame and the human heart. His presence can bring suffering and grief sometimes without any explanation or clear reason. At least, we don’t discern the purpose.
1 Peter 1 tells us, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” ~ vv. 6-7
The psalmist also refers to the ‘discomfort’ of God’s presence in the life of a human:
“I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
When you discipline a man
with rebukes for sin,
you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
a guest, like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more!” ~ Psalm 39
Yes, sometimes the presence of God’s fingerprints can feel heavy on us, too much for us to bear.
However, I want to propose that His fingerprints on your body, mind, and soul are the best marks you would ever want to have on you. His presence in the crime scenes of your life does not mean He is the culprit, the One who is responsible for a misdeed or the cause of your problems. No, His fingerprints appear in your life to deliver you from your crimes and your defects and the accusations of darkness.
Also remember that God’s presence (when it triggers grief and sorrow) may not always be focused primarily on our past or present sin but on our present and future growth. He never comes to pile on condemnation and shame for the past but to free your heart and mind from all inhibitors to future peace, joy, and love.
I won’t quote the full passage here but read Lamentations 3 when you get a chance. I will include portions of Jeremiah’s words below that relate to God’s fingerprints that at times feel dangerous and even antagonistic but are meant for our good.
Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11 he [the Lord] dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young. . . .
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.”
[2 Corinthians 5:17]
At justification, we were crucified with Jesus and raised from the dead. Now, on the ongoing journey of sanctification, God’s fingerprints on our hearts and souls are evidence that He is continuing to make us more like His Son for our joy and His glory. In justification, we were delivered from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light. In sanctification, God continues to transform our desires and very self into His image, restoring us from the tragic fall that banished us from His kind and holy presence.
We don’t want someone’s fingerprints all over our body if they are coming to murder and dismember us. We do want God’s fingerprints all over our body and mind and soul because He has come (in the person of the Holy Spirit) to raise us from the dead and then, like a loving Physician, heal us day by day. Not with radiation or chemotherapy. Not with wrath and an iron fist. But with His loving kindness and careful fingers that deliver us from sin, the grave, and separation from His presence.
Do we trust His healing attention? Do we believe that He is for us?
A scalpel can be painful—maybe sometimes as painful as a hunting knife wielded against us for a malevolent purpose. But a kind and loving Physician will not hesitate to make wisely calculated and perfectly executed incisions to heal us and set us free from the cancerous growth of sinful desires and harmful affections that lead us away from Him instead of toward Him who is our joy and our peace and our righteousness and our comfort and our best friend and the One through whom we gain access to the Father and—you get it. He is our everything.
It can be so difficult to trust the One who brings transient pain in order to bring eternal joy. Do we trust the surgeon? Is the crux of the matter that He is untrustworthy or that we are slow to trust?
Work to trust God’s fingerprints. You will not trust overnight. This journey that must be pursued in the presence of other believers who will walk with you will take a lifetime. During this journey, God’s hands might make incisions that hurt deeply but they are designed to remove every obstacle that rises up against your relationship with Him and the men and women around you whom you love. Do you even now see some of those obstacles that exist in the depths of your own heart?
Above all, learn the true heart of the One whose fingerprints are all over creation and your whole being. Learn His character. Is He for you or against you? Does He love you or hate you?
“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” ~ Psalm 1:5ff.
Look for God’s fingerprints in your life. Practice His presence. There may be days or seasons when you feel like saying, “God, get your fingerprints off me! Please turn your face away from me.” At these times, we must remember that His kindness is designed to lead us to repentance and growth.
Good fathers do not seek to give their children perfect comfort. If they do, their children will be selfish, soft, and superficial. Rather, good fathers seek to give their children wise gifts—even if they include painful discipline—to grow them and to prepare them for what lies ahead. (Do you want to be a fragile sapling before the raging storm or a towering, sturdy sequoia?) Why? Because life is not a bowl of cherries or a bed of daisies.
Life is a war. The question is not if you will be enlisted or not. The issue is which general will you serve? God or Satan? Others or self? Truth or deception? Worldly desire or eternal affection for God and others?
Serve the One whose fingerprints are always loving, the One who calls Himself gentle and lowly. Nothing He does in your life will ever be to harm you—even if it hurts. Nothing. (I know this truth is difficult to embrace, especially when we are suffering!). Everything He does is so we will share in everything He has planned for us forever.
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” ~ Hebrew 12:7ff
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:14-16
