Look at that word: "Behold!" No doubt God uses it here because he is astonished at the unbelieving complaint that comes just before it. Zion had just said, "The Lord has forsaken me. My God has forgotten me."

Can you hear the amazement in God's voice at such wicked unbelief? What could be more shocking than the groundless doubts and fears of God's own favored people? His loving rebuke should make us burn with shame. He cries out, "How can I have forgotten you when I have engraved you on the palms of my hands? How dare you doubt that I remember you when the memorial is carved into my very flesh?"

O unbelief, what a strange marvel you are! I hardly know which amazes me more: the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of his people. He keeps his promise a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt him. He never fails. He is never a dry well. He is never like a setting sun, a passing meteor, or morning mist that vanishes away. And yet! We live constantly troubled by anxieties, plagued by suspicions, disturbed by fears, as if our God were nothing but a mirage shimmering in the desert.

"Behold" is meant to make us marvel. And here we have something truly worth marveling at. Heaven and earth should be astonished that rebels like us have gotten so close to the heart of infinite love that we are engraved on the palms of his hands.

Notice: "I have engraved you." Not just your name. Your name is there, yes, but that's not all. "I have engraved YOU." Do you see the fullness of this? I have engraved your person, your image, your situation, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your needs, your works. I have engraved you. Everything about you. All that concerns you. I have put all of you there.

Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when he has engraved you on his own palms?