Handshake

Isaiah 41:10”Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

The Microsoft founder has been heavily criticized by the country's media because he shook President Park Geun-hye hand, while keeping his left in his trouser pocket. Korean newspapers attacked the billionaire for his casual style and pictures of the meeting were splashed across the front page of the country's national newspapers.

Well, handshake etiquettes are different in different countries, let me tell you about the way my school kids shake hands with me, no….no…..hang on to my hands.

I wonder how just the touch of my hands can bring such mirth and happiness in my school kids! The first two weeks when the newcomers join the school, it would be just nightmare for me, they would cry incessantly; just to cajole them, when I stretch out my hands to shake their hands, the little, thin, frail hands would seize my hands, there would be a twinkle in their eyes and then they would break into a radiant smile. Eventually the ‘hand-shake’ mantra has become a game in my school. The kids would rush towards me to shake my hands, hold my hands, hang on tightly to my hands and then they would all giggle away to glory. My, my what joy! I tell you they are such a delicious treat!

I guess this is the way Peter felt when Jesus stretched out His Hands to Peter and said, "Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.” (Mathew 14:29) How many of you would trust His Hands and walk into it wholeheartedly to protect you??? Peter did, though he did falter after a while, it is better to venture and fail rather then be a couch potato. Are you listening?

Friend, I am not talking about you being a Christian, I am today talking about holding the Hands of Jesus and giggling gloriously like the way my school kids hold my hands and have fun. I am not talking about the ‘prayer list’ that you make but I am talking about your passionate love for Him – just wanting to Hold those lovely Hands and embrace it for all the pain and sacrifice done for us. After my salvation experience, I started getting deeper with Him, I knew there was ‘more of Him’ than just church attendance or a five minutes sleepy prayer. I was all out to explore His glory! God is on the look out for such seekers!

Back then, I was a young mother of two kids, I would put my children to sleep and start praying through the night until the wee hours of dawn, I would take a short nap and go to office with puffed up eyes. Not content with this, during break time, I would vanish away to the terrace, rest room and pray. I would clutch my Bible and weep with passionate longing for Him. If you feel this is weird and surreal, read what David said: Psalm 63:1”O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.” God is looking for fervent seekers!

Jesus did invite you for a ‘handshake’ when He said, ‘I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you’, alas too many of us are shaking hands with the devil and have lost the mirth in our life! Are you hearing me? A young woman was holding hands with a married man and trotting the globe with him. One day the wife knelt at the feet of the Lord and held His Hands tightly and pleaded God to deliver her husband. God thrashed the ‘other’ woman and delivered the man from lust. Today they live happily. Amen. When the leper was thrown out of the city and forsaken, the Lord reached out to touch the leper’s hands and heal him. If you want to shake hands with God, you got to shake off the ‘world’ from you and come to Him. Are you ready?