nearness: 40 words in 40 days

It is a frightful thing to contemplate the nearness of God. In the Old Testament, men fell dead when they touched the ark. As priests worked in the Holy of Holies, a jingle bell sewn in the hem of their robe alerted the ones outside that the priest still breathed. He also worked with a rope tied to one ankle. If he fell dead, the others could drag him out without having to enter to retrieve him. 

When Jesus came, he healed by his touch. When Mary wiped his feet and anointed him with oil using her hair to dry them, he said that her story would be told wherever the gospel went. John reclined on Jesus’ chest and heard his heartbeat. Jesus touched. The blind, the lepers, the bleeding, the dead - all were healed. 

Today, are you afraid of the nearness of God?

What if Jesus touched you?

His Spirit resides in us - in our bodies. You can’t get much closer than that. Yet so many days, I go about life and forget about His nearness. My breath is His breath. I can use touch to heal or hurt. My words have the power of life or death. 

Am I a vessel of the Spirit? 

I want to remember that He is always near.

“...they delight in the nearness of God.” Isaiah 58:2