The Open Hand of God

You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

(Psalm 145:16)

The Hebrew word for “open” means “wide open.” The opening of the hand is an act of great generosity. God is a giver and He opens His hand wide to pour out His gifts to us.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

(Psalm 84:1)

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

God satisfies the desire of every living thing. To satisfy is to fulfill, or fill full. There are no voids, no nooks, no crannies — everything is completely filled in with nothing left lacking. The Hebrew word for “desire” speaks of pleasure or delight. God does not try to satisfy us with junk but gives us good things, things that are pleasing and delightful — things that are truly satisfying. Brenton’s English Septuagint (a translation of the Septuagint, which is an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew text) has Psalm 145:16 as, “Thou openest thine hands, and fillest every living thing with pleasure.”

Some people think that God is interested only in our needs, not our desires (if He is interested at all). But the truth is that He is interested in both. Now, of course, our desires are not always what they should be. We do not always want what is good and sometimes we crave things that are harmful to us or others. But God wants to heal our desires so we hunger after those things that are good and healthy and prosperous. He does this through personal relationship with Him.

Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

(Psalm 37:4)

As we delight ourselves in the LORD, the desires, or requests, of our heart begin to line up with what is in His own heart — and the desires of His heart are always good and pleasant. Then He is happy to give us the desires of our heart because they are what He has wanted to do for us all along.

God’s hand is opened wide to be gracious and generous to us in every way. In the next couple of posts we will look at two ways to experience all the good things He wants to pour out on us: 1. Open Wide Your Mouth 2. Open Wide Your Hand