Where is God When You Hurt - Emotions Part 1

Just One Touch

Scripture References

• Luke 7

Overview

Our emotions feel tangled and uncertain, yet Jesus’ own emotions anchor us. Looking at the funeral scene in Luke 7, Craig Groeschel showed how one look, one touch, and one word from Jesus turned a widow’s despair into hope. The same compassionate Savior still crosses every line to notice us, feel with us, and revive what seems dead.

Context

Craig opened by asking, “How are you really doing?”—a question most now find hard to answer. Friends reported feeling numb, angry, irritated, anxious; Craig’s own word was “unsettled.” This launched a new series exploring our emotions through the emotions of Jesus.

Main Points

We live in a swirl of raw emotions

• Social media prompt: “Describe your emotional state in one word (no cuss words).”
• Common replies: numb, angry, irritated, anxious, afraid; Craig chose “unsettled.”
• Even small interactions (handshakes, hugs, masks) feel awkward; larger tensions—economic, racial, political—amplify it.

Jesus experienced the full range of human emotion

• An article counted 39 distinct emotions displayed by Jesus in the Gospels.
• Examples: grief over Jerusalem, righteous anger at hypocrisy, joy when the 72 returned, sorrow at Lazarus’ tomb, loneliness and anxiety in Gethsemane.
• Because He felt deeply, His emotions can center ours.

The funeral in Nain: Jesus notices and feels

• Setting: Luke 7 — a widow’s only son has just died; loud procession with hired mourners.
• Details we don’t know (her age, boy’s age, cause of deaths) highlight the raw mystery of grief.
• “Jesus saw her” — one of 40+ Gospel mentions that He “saw” someone, meaning He truly noticed.

• Illustration: Craig compared merely looking to truly seeing, confessing he often misses details Amy instantly notices (haircuts, wedding décor).

Compassion from the gut

• Greek word for compassion: splágna — to feel from the intestines, the deepest place.
• Image: arriving at a wreck and realizing the victims are loved ones—that sinking gut-level ache.
• Jesus felt splágna toward the widow; He feels the same for us in anxiety, financial strain, parenting pain, marital struggle.

“Just one touch.”

Jesus crosses every line to revive what is dead

• He touched the open coffin—scandalous under 613 ceremonial laws that forbade contact with the dead.
• Religion often draws lines to keep people out; Jesus crosses lines to bring people in.
• When He touched the boy, the crowd gasped—and the boy gasped back to life.
• Whatever feels dead in us can live again with one touch from Jesus.

What one touch meant to a grieving mother

• Beyond restoring her son, Jesus restored her future: without husband or son she faced lifelong begging or worse.
• Hope returned in an instant.

Craig’s testimony: one word of hope

• Story: Months of pandemic leadership left Craig spiritually dry; he begged God for a yearly “word” and heard nothing. While listening to a non-Christian audiobook, one word boomed in his spirit: “Steady.”

• That single word—one touch—gave fresh confidence to lead and preach with endurance.

Called to share Jesus’ compassion

• We ask God for that same splágna toward irritated, broken, fearful people around us.
• The church should not draw lines but cross them, “doing anything short of sin” to reach those far from God.

Key Truths

• Jesus notices individual pain; He does not overlook anyone.
• His compassion is visceral, not distant—splágna from the depths.
• Love crosses the boundaries religion erects.
• One touch from Jesus can resurrect hope and life in what seems irreversibly dead.
• God often meets us with a single word or moment that steadies us for seasons.

Response

• Bring your honest one-word emotion to Jesus in prayer.
• Ask Him to let you feel His splágna for you—and for others.
• Cross relational or cultural lines this week to show tangible care.
• Watch for and obey the “one word” or “one touch” God offers; anchor yourself in it.
• Share your renewed hope with someone who feels hopeless.

Closing

Craig invited anyone weighed down by sin or despair to call on Jesus, the One who still notices, still cares, and still brings dead things to life. He urged listeners to turn from past failures and trust the risen Savior for forgiveness and new life.

“Get your hope back… He’s coming for you… just one touch.”

Prayer

Craig prayed that God would break the silence for weary hearts, sending “one beam of light, one song, one scripture, one word of encouragement,” and empower the church to carry His compassionate touch to a hurting world.