There are moments when we don’t want to be touched.
When we want to stay entrenched in our fury, stand on our injustices and refuse to allow the pressure to release.
When we want to be right even though a little voice may be poking us to tell us we aren’t.
When we have lost what feels like our world from beneath us, our grief emanating from the depths of who we are.
When the pain radiates so strongly that the lightest of touches feels like a bee sting.
When we are too touchy and prickly in our woundedness.
These are the very moments God came to touch us in.
I have had several car accidents (as a passenger) that have left my neck & shoulders exceptionally tight. I can feel relaxed everywhere else, but not in those two spots. Prayer helps with the pain management, yet the work I do typing daily doesn’t help.
I need the strong touch of my massage therapist or physiotherapist to help get the knots out, and smooth away my tense muscles.
If I go too long in between, I feel it.
In the same way, we were not designed to be solitary creatures, keeping ourselves removed from God’s loving touch.
We were meant to reach out and touch God. Our bodies, minds, emotions & spirit need His touch in order for us to let go of what needs to be uprooted or sloughed off under His soothing gentle yet firm touch.
Let God help you release the tension….
Get rid of that knot of burden you refuse to take off your back…
Help your stiff neck turn towards Him again…
Soothe the raw nerves as only He can….
Bring deep penetrating rest into the areas you may not even consciously be aware need it…
In the Old Testament, God kept Himself apart, and required distance from direct contact with His people.
Jesus arrived, and turned this on its head!
Jesus touched people everywhere He went…
the hurting,
the diseased,
the paralyzed,
the lonely,
the beggars,
the lepers,
the outcasts,
the grieving,
the children,
the ones seeking their last hope,
the untouchables,
even the dead.
Against all traditional beliefs in how God should treat people, God in Jesus touched lives beyond what we believed possible in a holy God.
He touched our hearts as He did.
For all the world to see, Jesus reached out and embraced the cross. That touch reverberated through out known time and space, rippling out into heaven and eternity.
When He allowed man to touch Him, wound Him over & over, and crucify Him, He knew intimately how some touches can devastate us.
When He rose from the dead, He knew how much those He had left behind, His disciples & followers would need the real touch only a loving God can bring:
compassion
forgiveness
mercy
love
grace
kindness
He still offers this to us each and every day.
Are you ready for God to collide with you right where you are at? Embrace you, holding you closer than you can dare to imagine?
God’s touch brings the hurting, broken and dead areas in us back to life again.
Reach out and touch His outstretched hand.
All it takes is one touch for your life to change.
KARLA LEES 