7/16/18: A New Understanding of “To Grope”

For several weeks each summer, I have the happy experience of spending several weeks in New Orleans with my youngest son Mark, his beautiful wife Tabatha, and my adorable grandchildren Dallas and Jordyn. My love for Mark and Tabatha has not diminished in the least, but as Nana to those babies, I am laser focused on them and just can’t get enough. Since one of my main heart’s desires is that my grandchildren actual know me, not just know about me, while I’m with them, I spend as much time as possible hugging and cuddling. They love to hug and cuddle too, so we’re a perfect trio. We all just love to be close. We touch. We hold hands, cradle each other’s faces, squeeze each other around the neck, kiss each other’s cheeks, and pat each other on the back. In a real sense, we “grope” each other in all the appropriate Nana/grandbaby ways.

Imagine my surprise when I read Paul’s use of the word “grope” in the Bible. While at Athens, Paul encountered a bunch of so-called philosophers who “spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21 NKJ). The town was filled with idols, even one with the inscription “To the Unknown God” (Acts 17:23). As Paul explained that “God, who made the world… and has made from one blood every nation of men” was this unknown God, he went on to say that God did it so that men “might grope for Him and find Him” (Acts 17:26-27). The Greek word “pselaphao” means “to handle, touch, feel; mentally to seek after tokens of a person or thing.”

It looks to me as if Paul is recommending that we do with God what I do with my grandchildren: grope. As we “handle” God through reading His word, “touch” God through prayer, and “feel” God in praise, worship, and meditation, we will come to know Him, not just know about Him. And isn’t that our heart’s desire?

________________________

©2018 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Links you won’t want to miss:

Watch Sharon in two shows on The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network:
- Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott, and
- A View from the Upper Room

from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv and on HSBN’s You Tube channel.

(Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

Join the movement! Closer Walk 2018(c) https://closerwalk2018.wordpress.com
366 Glimpses of God: Getting to Know the God Who Knows You.
Start every day of your new year with one of these thoughtful devotional readings that will focus your attention on our amazing heavenly Father.

http://www.hsbn.tv/_store.html#!/366-Glimpses-of-God-Getting-to-Know-the-God-Who-Knows-You/p/77442498/category=15564996

Pick up copies of Sharon’s books for yourself and as gifts for your family members and friends!

Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Boomerangs Videolink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk