Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Dusting for Fingerprints


I couldn’t believe it. There was a flesh-and-blood policeman with an actual fingerprint kit dusting the handle on the door of the carwash bay behind my house. Someone must have broken in and stolen the quarters from the coin-operated machines.

I love crime shows and had watched lots of actors “dust for prints”, but had never seen it happen in real life. I admit, I was excited to be witnessing it firsthand. More importantly, the results would help the police pinpoint who was involved in the crime.

Consisting of friction ridge skin on the tips of the fingers, fingerprints are detailed, unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term identity markers. Fingerprints are often not visible without some type of development that makes the latent fingerprint stand out against the background so the print can be collected and/or photographed. They can then be presented as irrefutable evidence in court.

Christian writer and speaker Sharon Jaynes challenges us to “Dust for God’s fingerprints on the pages of your everyday life.” Have you ever searched for God’s fingerprints? His Word says God is always with us (Hebrews 13:5), but sometimes, like latent fingerprints, I find it difficult to see Him. What can I “dust” my life with to make His touch visible?

Sharon suggests we follow 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks.” Gratitude can change the lens through which we see our circumstances. Giving thanks changes our perspective by accumulating evidence of God’s presence in plain old everyday life.

Looking back over our lives is another way for us to dust for God’s fingerprints. It is by seeing God’s fingerprints in His past work in our lives that we gain courage to place our present and future in His hands. Remember the poem, “Footprints in the Sand”? It tells how God revealed His presence to the author as he/she reminisced about life.

Sometimes talking with others can serve as the brush that sprinkles and swirls the fingerprint powder around in our lives. Blinded by circumstances or emotions, we need other Christians to bring to light the evidence of God’s fingerprints.

Whether obvious or obscure, God’s hand IS on our lives. What techniques have you found that help you see God’s fingerprints more clearly?

Be encouraged!
Pam

©2017 Pamela D. Williams