Divine Intimacy

What thoughts come across your mind when you think of holding hands? For me there are various pictures. I think of holding hands with Joleen as we walk together early in the morning. This morning as we took our pre-dawn walk on our lane through the woods, we held hands so that we wouldn’t stray off the path. Of course there have been other romantic walks we have taken in our forty-six years of marriage. Another picture involves walking hand-in-hand with our sons when there were young and desired the security of daddy’s hands. Still, a third hand-holding experience took place in East Africa when a friend of mine, Andrew Kasimarangahanga, reached down and took my hand as we walked to a youth meeting in Kampala, Uganda. Since holding hands man-to-man was not typical behavior back in small-town Indiana, I felt uncomfortable at first until I remembered that men in Africa often hold hands in public as a sign of friendship. In Isaiah 41:13, God says,

“For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’”

What a privilege it is to have the God of the universe take the initiative to intimately guide, assure and direct us as Christ-followers.

Song:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there;
None other has ever known.
--C. Austin Miles