Reaches

Reaches
By Jenny Komenda (after Michelangelo)

“Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens: ‘I the Lord have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand, and will keep you.’”
Isaiah 42:5-6

~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Michelangelo’s masterpiece, that infinite space between finger and finger has captured humanity’s imagination for centuries – not for its distance, but for its closeness. The Creator of the Universe, depicted in dynamic motion, strains forward while Adam reclines, seemingly barely lifting his hand in response. Here is divinity earnestly reaching toward humanity, while humanity responds with more indifference – both yearning and hesitant for divine connection.

“God is in relentless pursuit of you,” Patrick Kearon has declared, and nowhere is this truth more visually arresting than in the Sistine Chapel’s centerpiece. The hymn writer Emma Lou Thayne captured this divine initiative when she penned the line, “He reaches my reaching" – a profound recognition that even our feeblest spiritual efforts are met with God’s eager response.

The Pesikta Rabbati, a 9th century rabbinical text, includes the following teaching: “A king had a son who had gone astray from his father on a journey of a hundred days. His friends said to him, ‘Return to your father.’ He said, ‘I cannot.’ Then his father sent word, ‘Return as far as you can, and I will come the rest of the way to you.’ So God says, ‘Return to me, and I will return to you.’”

As the Apostle Paul testified, “I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:38-39). The space between those fingers represents not distance but possibility – the eternal truth that divine love is, as Russell M. Nelson has affirmed, “perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal.” In every moment, the Creator of worlds without number bends near, reaching across the vast expanse of cosmos and consciousness, waiting for us to lift our hand in return.

The near-touch of these outstretched hands speaks of that divine relationship – God, fully engaged, reaching toward His creation, and Adam, hesitant but responding – and embodies the great truth that God continuously seeks to draw us near, despite our mortal frailty. Today, let us remember that God’s hand is always reaching. He desires our return, our trust, our willingness to be led. As we extend even the smallest effort, He will close the gap, lift us up, and draw us into His divine embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~