Knowing God - He Wants to Be "Handled"

Luke 24:38-39

And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? ……..handle me,….”

                                                                    

I am continually amazed at how many questions the Lord asks in the scriptures.  He is God.  He can make commands and statements that are authoritative and final.  Instead, He often asks His creation questions.  Here He is asking His followers why they are troubled and why they have certain thoughts in their hearts.  He has risen from the dead and His followers are not sure how to process His presence and the fact of His resurrection.  Jesus tells them to ‘handle me’.  This word ‘handle’ means to manipulate or to verify by contact.  When we are troubled or we have doubts and thoughts in our hearts, we would do well to do what the Lord told His early followers.  We need to verify the Lord’s presence in our lives by verifying with contact – handling Him.  Opening our eyes to His obvious dealings with us, praising Him with our lips, acknowledging His ever present help with us and taking in His promises and presence in His written Word will help us make contact with Him.  We mustn’t just look on Him as if He were some vague spirit in our midst.  He tells us to handle Him.  He tells us to really connect with Him in a personal up close kind of way.  Oh Lord, show each of us how to ‘handle you’ that our troubles and thoughts would encounter the reality of you.