The Touch Of His Hand
The Lord walked through the darkness of this planet, which was void, and without light. The heavens above were a dark void of nothing but gloom and darkness. He touched the heavens, and they came awake with stars shining in their sockets. As he placed each shining star in its place in the heavens above the earth, he named them one by one. At His touch, a star come alive above the planet that was to become known as earth. This star shined like no other star upon this planet, giving it warmth and light to dispel the darkness that had hovered over it for so long. At His touch, the waters moved back, and land appeared, flowers broke forth in praise to their creator, animals roamed the planet in acknowledgment of their Creator. At the touch of His hand a lump of clay was formed into a body form and began to speak and move about his new home. This creature was given a voice with which he could communicate with his Creator. He, too, was given hands with which he could reach out and know the touch of something warm, and soft and comfortable.
Man again knew the touch of his Creator’s hands as he was made to sleep, while from his side a rib was removed from which was made a woman who would walk at his side and share in his joys.
The sons of Adam from his day until this day have known the touch of God’s hand upon their life. And those whose lives have been touched by God are never the same again. In some wondrous way He can make the darkness flee at the touch of His hand. Somehow, He can make sadness take its flight when He touches one’s life.
Blind Eyes
In His presence there’s fullness of joy. There is no room for sadness and despair in the presence of the Lord. If one will but look up through the mist of doubt and fear, and with the heart of faith touch the outstretched hand, he will know instant joy and peace. We continue in our gloominess when we look around us at our surrounding circumstances, when we fail to seek out the touch of His hand. We can continue to sit by the roadside of life and remained in our blind condition that we have known for years if that is our wish. We may also — at the sound of His steps — cry out to Him for the mercy that can remove the scales from our eyes. At the touch of His hand we may then behold the beauty of the butterfly, the wonders of the flight of the sparrow, the peacefulness of the flower waving in the breeze, and more importantly than all these privileges, the face of Jesus. It remains our choice whether we continue to sit in the dust of the roadside and never know anything but darkness or rise from our despair and seek out the touch of His hand. (Mark 10:46–52)
Sin’s Effect
The awful stigma of sin marked each of our lives with its ugly marks. Everywhere we turned men readily knew what we were by what we manifested with our life. Walking about with such a stigma made life unbearable. Many sought the darkness to hide their shame. Others, seeking an answer to their perplexing condition, sought for the touch of His hand. Upon finding Him and knowing the touch of His hand there was immediate deliverance from the awful shame and despair of sin’s scars. When His hand touched us the shame and sin was not only removed, but the scars were taken away as well. No longer do we live with a memory of what we did in our darkened sinful condition haunting us; the touch of His hand has set us completely free from sin and its awful bondage.
Knowing such freedom, we then turn to our friends and loved one’s who are yet covered over with the scars of sin’s shame. We plead with them to come so that they too might know the touch of His hand in their own lives. But so many refuses to listen to what we have to say. Oh, that more would believe that what we are trying to tell them is so. But we shall not stop in our efforts to convince them to come to Him so that they too might know the delivering touch of His hand upon their own life. It is not His will that they should continue in their shameful degraded condition. His merciful hand of healing awaits them just as it did me. (Matthew 8:2,3; I Peter 3:9)
Sin’s Fever
Men tend to forget what it felt like to know the touch of His hand that first time in their life. They tend to drift from the joy and love that they once knew in their life at the beginning of their walk with Him. The awful fever of carnal sickness creeps into their body and they fall prey to its influencing effects.
It causes them to say what they would not use to say, to do what they would not use to do. Instead of seeking harmony we find them now sowing seeds of discord. Instead of speaking well of others we find them speaking ill of others. The feverish sickness permeated their body and seeks to destroy them completely. If left untended it will soon run its course and cause the infected one to ruin his life and in its course, it is likely to affect the life of others as well.
The wise man will, in his sickened condition, seek out the One who can remove this spiritual malady from his emaciated soul and restore the joy of health again to him. If while in this condition he will shake himself, while he still has time, and seek humbly the source of our help, he will find that He is merciful and will abundantly pardon. At the touch of His hand every trace of the fever will leave him, and he will feel the cool refreshing breezes of His presence sweeping over his soul. And arising from his bed of fever, he will immediately seek to minister to the One
who has brought such joy and pleasure to his life. He will now attempt to spread warmth and joy, among others. And he will also attempt to point out to others that the touch of Jesus’ hand brings the sweetest peace and victory that may be had. (Matthew 8:14–16)
Deaf Minds
Some have ears but hear not. It is one thing to listen to a professor expounding his theories from the podium, and yet another to receive what he is saying into one’s mind. While sitting in his presence you may shut him out and no longer hear him, your ears have tuned out his voice, and while the sound continues to reach you, your ears refuse to receive what is being said. You have settled it in your own mind that you do not want what he has to say. Fine. You may not benefit from listening to his speech anyway. But when we turn our ears away from the word of God and refuse to let the word of God penetrate our heart, then we are bringing a gross injustice to our own life and the lives of those others who will be influenced by our thinking.
Those who refuse to have ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the church bring hurt to their own lives. Those who have shut the word of God out of their lives and have settled it in their heart that they want nothing to do with Jesus’ Name baptism, the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues experience this One God message are doing themselves a gross injustice. If they would but let the Lord of glory, he could touch their ears so that they might hear the wondrous news of salvation that delivers from sin and its awful consequence. It is truly a wonderful sight to see a face light up as they have their heart touched with the Spirit of God and begin to speak with their
tongues as the Holy Ghost floods through their soul. Their ears become opened to the most beautiful sound they have heard. The word of God becomes wonderful to them and they now sit and listen to it being expounded by the man of God. Where once they had ears only for the sounds of the world and its offbeat notes, they now have tuned their ears to a new wavelength and have been rejoicing ever since (Mark 7:32- 35).
Dead While Living
Because of despair at life and the way it has turned out for them, some have sunk into hopeless despair. They feel nothing will ever be the same again, there will never be joy any more, and — giving in to their feelings — they sink lower and lower.
They revel in sin, seeking to satisfy the trouble in their soul. They become harder in heart and mind. Sinking lower in the pit of despair they seem out of reach of help. In such a deplorable condition they seem to be on their way to their grave in their “dead” condition of sinfulness. Some have given up on them and said there is no hope for them they are too far-gone. But there is one who has never said, “He is too far gone.”
Through mercy he can stop the funeral procession and touch the dead and say, “Live!” At the touch of his hand life can be given to the dead among us who feel hopelessly lost. (Luke 7:11–15)
In the depth of your despair, arouse yourself. You may feel that no one cares about you, that life is in vain; but there is still one who does care. One cares and wants to touch your life, and after one touch of his hand you will know that life really is worth living after all. Everything and everyone that Jesus has touched was never the same again.
The touch of His hand left what He touched forever different. One may later grow unthankful and turn aside from the way of life that he knew was best; but he will never forget the touch of the hand of God upon his life.
Before Calvary, the cross was an emblem of fear and death. Those who died upon a cross had a curse pronounced upon them. Everything associated with a cross was looked upon as a curse.
Now, since Jesus has died upon a cross, the cross has become a different emblem to mankind. We look upon churches and find crosses hanging on their walls and adorning their lawns. The cross today stands as an emblem of victory, a symbol of life. Because of the cross we live. We sing The Cross Made The Difference.” We sing “I Will Cherish The Old Rugged Cross.” The view of the cross — which once stood as despicable in the eyes of all — is now completely different since Jesus touched it.
Who would ever expect to see an electric chair on the wall of a church, or gallows or a Guillotine? These are all instruments of death, but Jesus did not touch them. His touch makes the difference.
