God's Second Touch

How important do you think is it to be touched in comforting, encouraging, healing ways?

All over the world, people long to be touched by others. In Russia, people greet each other with a bear hug; in Argentina, they kiss on both cheeks; in Rome, they pinch your cheek. Other cultures might rub your nose, slap your back, or place a garland of flowers around your neck. We use a handshake—and often measure someone by how he shakes our hand. A cold, limp, withdrawn hand suggests one thing while a firm, warm, friendly hand gives us a good feeling about the person. How important is a good touch? Well, one of the largest selling records of all time was the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand."  [http://www.romancebible.com/articles/importance-of-touch]

In many ways, touch is our first language—a language scientists are now beginning to understand. Being touched in a loving way can help small babies grow stronger and help troubled children feel less anxious. In many hospitals and birthing centers, newborns are placed on the mother's chest or abdomen to give them the most skin-to-skin contact. The touch between the mother and her baby brings them emotionally close—a process known as bonding or attachment. In fact, in one study, premature infants who were massaged while at the hospital gained more weight and were ready to go home with their parents an average of six days earlier than preemies who were not massaged. [http://www.johnsonsbaby.com/article.do?id=9]

If human touch is so important to our physical and emotional well-being, God's touch must be far more important! Our hearts and our spirits need to be touched by God—not just once, but all our lives; not just occasionally, but regularly! And yet, perhaps because we don't always understand what God is doing, we often pull away just when God wants to give us his healing touch.

I recall times when my kids were little and they would come to me with a thorn or a splinter stuck in their hand. "Let me take a look at it," I'd say. "Oh, that's not so bad. We can get that out in no time." Then I'd get a tweezers or a needle to ease the splinter out from under the skin.

And then they would holler, "Don't touch it!" Don't touch it? Well, what do you want me to do? Talk it out? You nasty splinter, come on outta there! No, if we're going to get it out, I've got to touch it. There's no other choice. "But it's gonna hurt!" Well, it might hurt a little, but not for long—and it will feel much better once it's out.

So what do you do? You get your wife to hold the kid down—to sit on him, if necessary. And the kid is fighting and squirming and pulling away because he doesn't want you to "touch it." And your jabbing the tweezers at this thrashing hand, hoping you don't do permanent damage.

And you want to say, "What's the matter with you? Don't you trust me? What do you think I'm going to do? Cut your hand off? Amputate your arm? You've got to trust me. I'm your father. I'm doing this to help you."

I think sometimes that's the way God must see us. We're like a kid who says, "God, I'm hurt. God help me." So God comes to help, and what do we say? "God, don't touch me! Don't do that God!" God is saying, "But I've got to reach in there and deal with the hurt. It may hurt a little, but I've got to do it." We say, "No, God. Please, nothing like that!"

We may not always understand what's happening in our lives, but we must learn to let God touch us. We must learn to trust him and allow him to touch us at the point of our need. Even if it hurts. Even if we don't understand. God's touch is so important for us—if we want to survive, if we want to thrive, our hearts and spirits need his healing touch.

Mark 8:22-25 (NIV) 22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" 24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Here is a very interesting story—fascinating for a couple of reasons:

1. The man wasn't healed immediately. Jesus touched him, but God's work in him was incomplete—he received only a partial healing. Something more still needed to be done in him.

We tend to think of God doing something all at once—where he comes in power, where he radically changes our hearts, performs a miracle, and produces a total transformation.

Here's what we want: We want to go to the altar, receive God's grace, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and be done with it! We want a quick fix, a one-time encounter with God. We want an instant cure that will become all-purpose, comprehensive work in our life.

We don't want the trials and tribulations and discipline of being refined by God over time. We don't want the ordeal that comes with pulling splinters or removing thorns. As a result, we don't typically see God working through a process*—helping us gain spiritual ground inch by inch.

We want it all. We want it in one convenient package—and we want it now. We prefer not to think of having to go through a process, requiring time or effort on our part, where we need to do something ourselves in order to realize God's fuller work in us.

But this story is also interesting for another reason—not just because the work of healing wasn't completed immediately—but because Jesus wasn't done with the man. Jesus wanted to do more with him. So, did you notice?

2. Jesus touched the man again. He didn't leave him partly cured. He didn't give up on him. He didn't condemn him for his lack of faith or his inability to receive a miracle. Jesus recognized his need and touched him again. He finished the work!

We can get discouraged when we fall short of God's best. Maybe you're stuck somehow, seemingly unable to fulfill God's call on your life. Maybe you're living under a cloud of sickness or unanswered prayer. Whatever it is, for one reason or another, you suspect somehow that you're not living the abundant life Jesus promises to his followers.

We can struggle with our earth-bound existence, with feeling incomplete, with inadequate spiritual growth, with having unfinished spiritual work.

Some become frustrated because they've fallen into the trap of habitual sin. They begin to wonder if there is any hope they can ever be completely set free. Sure, they know about God's love. They've been forgiven. They've experienced God's grace. But they keep getting sucked back down into destructive behaviors and attitudes that they seem to have no control over.

They're like a small satellite trapped by the gravitational pull of the large planet. They want to be free. They want to escape and soar to new heights. They want to leave the old planet and abandon their old ways. But they're stuck in orbit, going around and around in circles, unable to break free of the gravitational pull of their sinful addiction.

The good news is that when we are spiritually incomplete—when we are an unfinished work—Jesus wants to touch us again. Jesus wants to do something more in us. Jesus wants to empower us and set us free to live better and higher and stronger than ever before. And this is why we need a second touch. Or maybe a third or a fourth touch. In fact, we need a fresh touch from the Lord on a regular basis! He is not finished with us yet. He is still working on us.

Phil 1:6 (NLT) ...I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.

2 Cor 3:4-5 (NLT) 4 We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5 It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God.

*Process: 2 Peter 1:5-9 (add to your faith...); Israelites taking the land little by little (Exod 23:29-30; Deut 7:22); Phil 2:11-12; Paul after Damascus Road spent three years learning (Gal 1:17-18); 2 Pet 3:18 (grow in grace); fruit of the Spirit; 1 John 3:2

You've come to Jesus. He's touched you in some personal way. He forgave you of your sin. He rescued you. Perhaps he picked you up out of the mess. He lifted your spirits; he blessed your heart; he comforted your soul; he gave you peace of mind; he healed your body.

Jesus came to Bethsaida, to this man's village. Jesus came to touch him and meet his need. And Jesus comes to our village to minister to our deepest needs.

Thank God for all he has done in us and for us! Praise God that he's extended his forgiveness and grace to us.

But here's the exciting news: God isn't finished with us yet! Even though you've been touched by Jesus, he still has more he wants to do in you! He wants to take you to the next level. He wants to rescue us from old ways, from the chains of sin, habits, and addictions. He wants to help us live the victorious live—more fully and completely. He wants to touch us again.

To receive God's touch on your life—whether it is the first touch, the second, or the 100^th touch...

1. Put your hand in his. "Jesus took him by the hand and led him..." Don't be afraid. Can't see what he's doing? Where he's going? Afraid of taking out the splinter? Know that Jesus cares for you. You can be confident that when you don't know what to do or where to go, Jesus wants to take your hand and lead you in the right way.

2. Go "outside the village." In the village, the man was surrounded by his old friends and everything that was familiar to him. But Jesus took him away from all that.

To receive God's touch, we need to get away from our old ways and our old patterns of thinking. We need to get away from the past, away from our old limitations. We need to get out of the village—away from the old ways, away from skeptical, critical neighbors.

This man needed to get away from everything that might hinder him from receiving God's healing touch, his miraculous work. In fact, when the work was complete, Jesus told him to go home without even going back into the village.

3. Trust  God. You've got to let Jesus do his thing. It might seem strange to us that Jesus would spit on the man's eyes (v 23), but will you trust Jesus enough to allow him to do something that feels weird or strange? Will you allow him to be the Lord? Will you let him be the One who calls the shots?

Spitting on blind eyes wasn't so strange in those days; saliva was considered to have some medicinal value. We don't know if this is why Jesus spit on his eyes, but if it was, it raises other questions: Jesus certainly didn't need the help of natural cures, so why would he bother to use them? Is Jesus saying we can trust him and use medical resources at the same time? Did Jesus spit on the man's eyes so he could strengthen his faith to believe for healing?

We don't know. We don't always understand how God works or why he chooses to do things certain ways one time and other ways at another time. But we don't need to know why! We only need to trust.

4. Return again to God. Receive his touch again. Don't settle for something less as long as God has more he wants to do in your life.

This man received a partial work healing when Jesus touched him. His first touch released God's power into the man's life. But the results left something to be desired. He could see something—but it was distorted, unclear, out of focus: he saw people who looked like trees. God's work in his life was partial, incomplete, unfinished.

God isn't finished with us yet. We need another touch. We need to open our hearts and our lives to his continual work in us.

"Once more [Jesus] touched him." And it was the second touch of Jesus that further released God's power and finished the work of healing.

God comes again and again to work in our lives. If we let him, he desires to fill us over and over.

Dwight Moody, asked why he emphasized continually being refilled with the Holy Spirit said, "Because I leak." We all leak! We're human. We are flawed vessels of flesh. Cracked clay pots that leak and need to be refilled again and again.

Jesus began his ministry by saying, "The kingdom of God is at hand (near)." The kingdom is still "at hand"—it still hasn't arrived in all its fullness. It's something we anticipate. It's something we look forward to. It's something we pray for: "Your kingdom come."

There is still work to be done. The kingdom of God is "not yet," but it is being fulfilled. And it is coming closer and closer.

This is why we need God's touch repeated in our lives again and again. We must not be satisfied with a single touch. We must not be content with a past experience. We can celebrate the victories won, but we should not settle for what happened before. Once again we need his touch! We need to return again to God.

For God's touch to be effective, we must be willing participants! How often in the NT does Jesus say something like: Get up. Take up your bed. Walk. Go. Show yourselves to the priest. The people had to do something!

When Jesus touches us, we should obey. We should respond. We should actively join in the work of God. We should be part of what he is doing. When he touches our eyes, it's up to us to open our eyes! We must respond to Jesus' touch.

Verse 25

KJV ...[Jesus] made him look up...

NASB Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. diablepo = "to look through, to see clearly"

NCV ...the man opened his eyes wide...

NLT ...As the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored...

MSG ...The man looked hard...

Early in the twentieth century, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia followed a strange ritual each morning. He would begin the day dressed in uniform—a different uniform every day. With his one-of-a-kind collection of military dress, Wilhelm could festoon himself in countless displays of breastplates, medals, gold braids, tunics, helmets, and top boots. He was a wonder to behold.

But even more of a wonder was what he did in his martial dress. Because for hours at a time, he did nothing! He would mount his horse and sit on the parade grounds at Potsdam. All that time he reviewed no troops, led no charges, attended no affairs of state, met no dignitaries. He just sat, looking regal and impressive. Some said Wilhelm confused himself with one of the statues on the parade grounds. He was posing as a statue of someone who had done something, all the while he was doing nothing.

Many have found it easier to dress the part than actually be the part. They say they want God to work in them, but they're unwilling to get involved in God's work. They say they want God to touch their lives, but they don't respond to his touch.

They are statues who have done nothing. Statues who want the image without the commitment. We must remember that battles are won by warriors, not statues. And God works in those who respond, not in those who pull away from his touch. —Harpers (May, 1992, p. 9)