Touch Not Mine Anointed

There is a command in Scripture that was not aimed at ordinary people. It was aimed at rulers, at kings, at the powers of the age. Listen to how the psalmist tells the story of God watching over a small and vulnerable family as they journeyed through hostile lands.

He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Psalm 105:14-15

God had made a covenant with Abraham, confirmed it to Isaac, and established it with Jacob as an everlasting promise: the land of Canaan would be their inheritance. And here is the striking part. When that promise was made, they were, in the words of the psalm, few in number, yea, very few, and strangers in the land. They had no army, no standing, no claim the world would recognize. And yet God set Himself between them and every threat. This is not a small thing. It tells us how God relates to those He has claimed as His own.

We Have to Contend for What Is Ours

There are times when we, as God's people, have to take our stand on His Word. We sometimes have to do battle to possess what already belongs to us. God had promised the land, but the promise still had to be laid hold of. And so it is with much of what God has spoken over your life.

Consider how the psalm frames Israel's inheritance. It was theirs by covenant. It was theirs by a law that could not be altered, the settled Word of a God who does not lie. It was their right, the way a citizen holds rights under the constitution of their land. In the same way, the good things God has spoken over you, your healing, your provision, your future, are not finally decided by the circumstances you happen to find yourself in. They rest on the covenant of a faithful God. That does not make God a machine we operate; it means His promises are the surest ground we can stand on, and we hold them in faith, not in anxiety.

The psalm says God remembered His covenant forever, the word He commanded to a thousand generations. That is the character of the God we are dealing with. He does not forget what He has spoken, and He does not grow tired of keeping His word. Time does not wear out His promises. A thousand generations later, the covenant still stands. So when you stand on what God has said, you are not standing on a wish or a slogan. You are standing on the unbroken memory of a faithful God who has never once failed to keep faith with His people.

And notice this: the promise was given, but Israel still had to walk into the land. There was a journey to make and battles to face along the way. Sometimes we too have to contend, in prayer and in faith, to lay hold of what already belongs to us. This is not striving to convince a reluctant God; it is refusing to let go of a promise already made. It is holding our ground when the circumstances shout the opposite of what God has said, and quietly answering every threat with His Word.

The Voices That Say You Do Not Qualify

Of course, plenty of voices will rise up to explain why what God has said about you should never come to pass. It was true even in the psalm. People looked at this little nation and said, why should they get all this land? They are so few. The land is large and they are small; surely they should settle for less. Others said, they are only strangers here, not citizens, not landholders. How could this ever belong to them?

Maybe you have heard the modern versions of those voices. This condition runs in your family, so you will surely have it too. You are not qualified; you will never get that job. The sickness is too far gone; you can only learn to manage it. Your credit is too damaged; you will never own anything. Perhaps statements just like these have been spoken over you, and they have started to feel like the final word.

They are not the final word. Hear instead what the Lord spoke over His people. The Bible says He rebuked kings and reproved rulers on their behalf, and to every hostile power He declared: touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. There is a grace being released to God's people, and part of it is simply this: a divine hedge that says, hands off. It is the truth that no weapon formed against you shall finally prosper, and that God Himself answers the accusations raised against you.

Chosen, Not Qualified

Notice who is doing the talking in this passage. It is God. And listen to His reasoning. What I have decided to do, He says, is not because they are qualified. It is not because they are many, or mighty, or especially righteous. What I have decided to do, I do because this one is mine. I have chosen her. I have set my love on him.

That is what the word anointed actually means. To be anointed is to be chosen, to be selected by God. It is not a status you achieve; it is a gift you receive. And Scripture keeps insisting that this gift is not reserved for a special few. Of Jesus it is written, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows (Hebrews 1:9). But the same Spirit is poured out on ordinary believers.

This matters more than it may first appear. If God's protection over your life depended on your qualifications, you would always have reason to be anxious, because you could never be certain you had done enough. But because it rests on His choice, on His love freely set upon you, it is as steady as He is. You did not talk God into loving you, so your failures cannot talk Him out of it. The One who chose you when you had nothing to offer is not going to abandon you now. That is the confidence beneath every promise He makes.

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

John says it plainly: the anointing which you have received from Him remains in you (1 John 2:27). Despite whatever you may have been taught, this is not a passage reserved for pastors and teachers. This word is for you. God has commanded that you not be touched, because you have been anointed and sealed with His Holy Spirit. You belong to Him.

A Chosen People

Peter gathers it all up in one of the most tender descriptions of God's people in the whole Bible.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

1 Peter 2:9

Read those words slowly and let them land on you. Chosen. Royal. Holy. His own treasured possession. Called out of the dark and into His marvelous light. If that is who God says you are, then the discouraging voices do not get to have the final say over your life. The One who reproved kings for the sake of a few frightened travelers is the same One who has set His seal upon you.

So tonight, wherever you are, take your stand on His Word. Not on the diagnosis, not on the family history, not on the closed door, not on the bad report, but on the covenant of the God who watches over His anointed. You do not have to be impressive for God to defend you. You only have to be His. And in Christ, you already are. Lift your eyes, hold His promise in faith, and hear Him say once more over your life: touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.