Face to Face

I was standing on the sidewalk just outside the Old City of Jerusalem in prayer, looking toward the ancient city of David and the Mt of Olives. There was a fair amount of traffic, tour buses and cars passing by. A small narrow tractor used to deliver goods down the narrow walking streets in the Old City passed me, then stopped, blocking traffic. An Arab man walking on the side walk walked up and with a warm greeting, reached for the other Arab man's hand who was driving the tractor. They proceeded to shake with one hand, and embrace with the other--while kissing each other on both cheeks--not once--but twice! By this time about 5 cars were honking with all their might--Israeli style. Working men, embracing like this share much more than words. Their smells, their sweat, their lives become intermingled in those moments.

The man was so cheered by this greeting that as he left the tractor, which began to slowly move, he waved heartily, with a huge smile at the Jewish man in the first car, who was of course blowing his horn the loudest. And the Lord immediately spoke to me.

In America, men shake hands. I was a woman in corporate America for a time, so I did some of that ritual handshaking as well. It is a brief clasp of the hand, the pressure and length of the handshake tells you something about the person's personality. In any case, it is a brief encounter. At church, sometimes you may get a hug along with the handshake--church is more like family in that regard.

In the Middle East, this type of greeting I saw is more common. In fact I have often seen people stop whatever they are doing to embrace in a warm and sincere greeting similar to this. This time was a pretty extreme case, stopping traffic and all. But hospitality, close friendships and relationships in general are more meaningful in this culture.

What kind of greeting would God desire? Jesus was born and raised in the middle eastern culture. I imagine he would greet the disciples much like these two men did. With hearty, sincere joy of their encounter. Of course, the Lord is well aware of the different cultures we were all brought up with. Some families don't do much "touching" at all. Others are very "touchy-feely". The Lord has indicated that He will always meet us where we are at.

But what is His desire? The Bible tells us that our Lord is an intimate, passionate God. He desires intimacy with us. Read the Song of Solomon! He gave us His Word so that we could get to know Him, see Him as He is. We can get glimpses of His personality, His heart, His desires and His love--from reading the Word and meditating on it. If we only open our Bible's at a church service, it is like greeting your friend without even a handshake. If you open your Bible occasionally, perhaps this is like a handshake--you are genuinely happy to spend this short time with Him. And so-forth, until you come to the place where you spend enough time with Him that you desire to see Him face to face. You spend time reading the Bible and praying, then while you work, play and worship--you are meditating on the Word of God and His character. When you pray and when you speak of God with your family, friends and acquaintances--you know He is there with you. If He were to walk into the room at any moment during your day you would jump up, run to Him and greet Him. Maybe you would even stop traffic! That greeting would be like the one I witnessed yesterday. A handshake, an embrace, kisses on both cheeks--twice--a meeting Face-to-Face. May our lives become intermingled with the Life of the Living God frequently!