300 Days for 300 Years: A Commemorative Devotional of the Presbytery of Philadelphia
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Jessica Waite, 2016 Youth Triennium Delegate, Abington Presbyterian Church

  • First Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7
  • Psalms: Psalm 71:1-14
  • Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
  • Gospel Reading: John 12:20-36

The Touch of God

Tuesday of Holy Week

I often hear stories of those who have been “touched by God,” but I have never quite understood. On a church questionnaire in service, I watched my friend mark down “often” in response to the question, “Do you feel the presence of God during church services?” I did not know what that felt like. To be “touched by God” was a wonder for me, something I was not quite sure I would ever experience.

However, during the week of June 21, it all clicked. While driving through the gradually darkening night in Bozeman, Montana, I was stopped by God. During our stay, glorious mountains were beneath our feet, and we took in the beauty of the Lord’s earth. As I gazed upon the land below the vast mountainside upon which I stood, the Lord lifted the weights of my sorrows off my shoulders, replaced them with a steady hand, and whispered gently through the wind, “I am with you; you are my child”. I had been touched by God.

Just as the Greeks asked to see Jesus during times of pain, so we also ask to see God. When the darkness begins to fill your vision, God will show you the light of love, all you must do is ask. Believing in God and following Jesus is the eternal burning flame which guides us. After all, you “believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

Be with us, Lord, in times of need, and in our hearts and minds, in times of good and bad. Amen.