Strength of a touch!
Verse for Today: Sunday, October 23, 2011
Daniel 10:18 – Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.
Daniel 10:18 – Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.
There are various occasions when God proves to us that without Him and His touch, we are only clays with no strength in ourselves. We realize how weak we are when we are confronted by opposition and conflicts in our souls from the outside. At other times when we realize how daunting a task we are engaged in for the Lord, we feel inadequate and weak. When we see the depth and height of the glory of the Lord, we feel inadequate and weak and a sense of awe and nothingness encompasses us. But God will not leave us weak and inadequate at such times, but will strengthen us. When we confess our weaknesses and inadequacies, He comes to strengthen us. He fortifies us with His Spirit and through His Word which are the greatest powerhouses. These powerhouses are kept for us to draw strength and power to continue to do what God wants us to do. When we are broken in our spirits and admit our emptiness before the Lord with utter repentance and confession, He comes to give us His touch of power and strength to keep going. Daniel needed such a touch by the Lord and so did Isaiah. David could not go forward for a moment without the touch of the Lord. Paul experienced this touch several times during his ministry. John was lifted up by the hand of the Lord and imparted with strength several times when he was on the Island of Patmos as he received the Revelation. When he fell flat on the ground without any strength because of the awesomeness of the revelation of the glory of the Lord, he so badly needed the touch of the Lord to keep going with the ministry entrusted by the Lord. Enoch enjoyed the gentle touch of the Lord as they walked hand in hand for 300 years. This touch is available for us today in our weaknesses and failures as we are confronted by the realities of the tasks entrusted with us. It demands our brokenness and confession that we have reached our wit’s end and our willingness to admit our nothingness.
Dear friend, do you feel that you need the touch of the Lord in a special way today to keep going because the going has become tough? Are you confronted with the realities of the awesomeness of the task that the Lord has entrusted with you? Are you haunted by your total inadequacy and nothingness before the Lord to the extent to which the great fear of the Lord grips you? Daniel is a great example for us to learn to handle such situations. The servant of God who was bold in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, the hungry lions and his powerful adversaries became like a vegetable in the presence of the Lord because of the awesomeness of God and the greatness of the task that is given to him. Moses had such feeling of inadequacy and emptiness before God. Gideon experienced nothingness before the Lord. Jacob could no longer run away from realities of life and had to accept his emptiness before the Lord and live with a limp throughout the rest of his life. Paul had to enjoy His grace along with the admission of his weakness and continued to be the instrument of God’s revelation in the ministry. In the life of all these servants, we find our Lord going to them to strengthen them with His gentle touch which was sufficient to fortify them. His touch broke the thigh of Jacob and purged the tongue of Isaiah. His touch gave Daniel the necessary strength to pour hope into the hearts of the discouraged people of God. This strength is available to us today. It will be given to us when we are emptied of our natural physical, intellectual and emotional strength and do not depend on our abilities and skills. Today if we admit our weaknesses and the pressures of our situations to the Lord, He will strengthen us with His power to keep going. When He sees our weaknesses and the brokenness in our souls, He will come and touch us with His hands to fortify us so that we will be equipped to continue to serve Him and His cause here on earth.
Psalms 84:5a – Blessed are those whose strength is in You.
Thought for Today
God’s touch gives us His strength to do His work when we are weak, inadequate, empty, contrite and broken in ourselves.
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