WITH JUST THE TOUCH OF HIS HAND!

As we continue on our journey home, sometimes the days are dark and stormy.  There are many out there that are having dark and stormy days in their lives, days of sorrow and grief.  There are days of waiting for a doctor to give test results from a medical procedure, and you may be in fear not knowing what those tests will reveal.  Will they reveal cancer or some other terminal disease?  And you long for the Touch of the Master’s Hand.  You long to feel His presence surround you and give you peace, no matter what the days ahead may hold. 

There are many trials as we walk with our Lord down that pathway upwards toward home.  Sometimes we come to a valley where there is peace for a time, and then we start climbing again and there are steep places, and rocks in the pathway.  There are things that block our way and we are tempted to take a wrong path, coming upon a fork in the road.  But our Wonderful Lord leads us on, despite days of pain, grief and dark shadows across our path.  This precious song was written by Jessie B. Pounds in 1913, and I wonder what was in her life at that time that inspired her to write this song.  But she longed just for the “Touch of His Hand on Mine.”

“There are days so dark that I seek in vain for the face of my Friend divine; but though darkness hide, He is there to guide by the touch of His hand on mine.

Refrain:  Oh, the touch of His hand on mine, oh, the touch of His hand on mine!  There is grace and pow’r, in the trying hour, in the touch of His hand on mine.

There are times, when tired of the toilsome road, that for ways of the world I pine; but He draws me back to the upward track by the touch of His hand on mine.

When the way is dim, and I cannot see through the mist of His wise design, how my glad heart yearns and my faith returns by the touch of His hand on mine.

In the last sad hour, as I stand alone where the powers of death combine, while the dark waves roll He will guide my soul by the touch of His hand on mine.”

“If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest ocean, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.  I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are both alike to you” Psalm 139:9-12 (NLT). No matter where you are, my friends, He promises His hand will guide you and give you His strength to go on.  Even if you feel like you are in a dark valley, no light is shining, and it feels like the darkest of nights, there He is shining through the darkness.  When He is there He dispels the darkness around you, so you can see your way ahead through the struggles that mark your pathway, and it is all because of His hand on yours!

“For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.  How think ye?  If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of that sheep, than more of the ninety and nine which went not astray” Matthew 18:11-13. Sometimes on this road of life, temptations arise and the call of the world beckons, and we may take a wrong turn in the path and find ourselves adrift from the loving care of our Lord.  But in this scripture we see our Shepherd going into the mountains to find that one lost sheep.  Are you one of those lost sheep, my friend?  He goes into the steep places, the crevices of the rock up there on the mountains where you have gone, to find you, to carry you in His arms and bring you safely back into the fold.  And when He does, there is great rejoicing in heaven, because that one lost sheep, you, is back in the care of our Shepherd.  What a precious Lord we serve!

“And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not: I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.  These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them” Isaiah 42:16.  Sometimes in our walk with the Lord, He calls us to new paths of faith, new places to serve, new decisions to make, and we are not sure which direction we should go, and the way ahead seems dim, and we do not know where He is leading.  But as we step out in faith, in simple trust, our faith will become strong as we see our Lord makes those crooked paths straight and we can see our way ahead in the path He has chosen to lead us.  Praise the Lord!

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear not evil:  for thou art with me” Psalm 23:4.  Isn’t it wonderful to know, that as we near the end of our journey, and we walk through that last valley, we don’t have to fear, He is there.  You know, a shepherd never leaves the sheep in the valley, he lead them through it.  So when that time comes for each of us, He will lead us safely through that valley of shadow and over that last mountain, and then into eternal glory.  We will see that heavenly city, and His arms will be open to welcome us home.  And we will praise Him forever for the touch of His hand as He has been with us on our journey and now has led us home, to our eternal home.’’

I pray today, that you will feel the touch of His hand on yours, and that you know Jesus as your own personal Savior.  He is waiting to take you into His arms and give you eternal salvation and a home with Him forever, just ask Him, He is waiting for you.

In the Name of Jesus,

Pastor Sharon