Verse of the Day for February 17

Zion has just made an accusation, and Isaiah records it without softening: the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

God's answer begins with the strongest human bond available. Can a woman forget her sucking child? And then concedes the point — yea, they may forget.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.

Graven is not written. It is cut, incised, carved into a surface that will not release it. You do not erase an engraving; you would have to remove the hand.

And the placement is deliberate. Palms are what you see when you open your hands to work, which means the memory is not stored somewhere and retrieved. It is in front of Him constantly.

Christian readers have never quite been able to read that verse without thinking about what was eventually driven through those palms.

The complaint that opens this passage is allowed to stand. God does not tell Zion she is wrong to feel forgotten; He tells her what is on His hands.

Being forgotten is a feeling. Being engraved is a fact.