Reach Out and Touch Someone

[GCTSGRice]

Day 8 - The Shepherd Healer
Wouldn't it be great, I sometimes hear people wonder out loud, if we could wave our magic wand and make people better! A novel idea spoiled by a harsh dose of reality, in my opinion. Healing of any kind seems impossible without getting close to another, even touching them. Dr. Laniak shares God's expectation of undershepherds ("to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, and liberate the possessed") and I find myself thinking how that is even possible unless we are "touching" others. Clearly this is a call to get out of the study, move beyonds the books, and get my hands dirty in "real" ministry. But I am continually plagued with the corresponding call to minister the Word of God through preaching and teaching, which takes effort, energy, and of course, time apart from people. Even the passages where Jesus ministers healing to the people are often precipiated by his ministry of preaching or teaching. Can there be an appropriate balance, and if so, where does that fine line exist? One thing I know for certain: when I spend too much time in the study of God's Word my ability to touch the people is severely limited in the sense that I feel "out of touch" with what is going on in the lives of those entrusted to my care. Therein I see a great paradox. I cannot truly touch people and minister healing to them without knowing their illnesses and daily struggles. These are more than common cold issues (i.e. "sin" in general). They are specific problems that require very specific solutions, and if I am out of touch with them, I cannot possibly meet their needs in the way it is most needed. To move beyond the relative safety of my study is to jump headfirst into the mayhem of everyday life, yet that is exactly where sick people can be found. So often I expect those who are spiritually sick to come to the doctor's office (i.e. the church) to be made well through a dose of the Word, and then I get frustrated when they do not come. Perhaps they do not come because they are too sick! Sick of the empty words, the lack of genuine concern and compassion, the offer of help without the true healing. I need that wake-up call of the Lord through the prophet Ezekiel, a call to shepherds that have lost sight of the true need of the sheep, and who only care for their own interests at the expense of those they are called to serve! (Ezekiel 34) Oh how thankful I am that the Lord awakened me to the importance of this ministry and the need to have a "compassionate disposition" through my own need of healing. This was not painful so much as it was frightening, and it was the concern and compassion of a fellow shepherd and the sheep of God's flock that helped to awaken me! I am so deeply indebted to what the Lord has shown me through this time - my own personal wilderness affliction - and I am more keenly aware of the need to be among the sheep more consistently, doing my best to recognize the "subtle symptoms" of the flock's ailments, and touch most those suffering the most. This is the role of the Shepherd Healer, and that is who I am called to emulate.