When You Need A Hug From God
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Deuteronomy 10:20-You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
Dr. William Glatt is a well known and acclaimed physician who has extensive knowledge and first hand experience with the therapeutic value of hugs. Yes, you read that correctly: hugs. After carefully listening to a patient who was on powerful prescription drugs for anxiety and depression, he recounts what happened next.
“I don’t know how it happened, but it was if some force beyond me pulled the words out of my mouth. “Esther, you don’t need antidepressants, you need a hug!” She looked at me, startled. As if in a dream, I took her hands, helped her off the examining table and put my arms around her. She returned the hug and we held each other for what seemed like a long time. As I hugged her I asked myself What the heck am I doing? This is not standard care and I should not be hugging my patients. Doctors are trained to keep a safe distance as part of the doctor-patient relationship and this was deeply ingrained throughout our training. In medical school, in residency, and while I served in the US Public health service—touching and hugging were not encouraged. Yet here I was, embracing Esther. When I let go and stepped back, she was glowing. Her posture had improved, her eyes were opened wide and she was smiling from ear to ear. I had never seen her with a smile before. Our eyes met—both of us astounded by the rapidity of change in her total affect, body posture, and demeanor. I was amazed. Never had I seen such dramatic results with someone who moments before had seemed so severely depressed. Antidepressants, on the other hand, usually take several weeks before significant benefit. While I stood there with Esther, a myriad of questions raced through my mind. Is she really depressed? Does she just need some loving and caring? Why did I tell her she needed a hug? How can Esther get more hugs living in an efficiency apartment at a senior complex? What am I going to do for an encore? As we stood there looking at each other, each of us smiling and quite happy about the short-term result, I contemplated. I thought it would be nice for her to get hugs every day and I was only in the office four days a week. She needed daily treatment, such as that offered in a pill. An antidepressant would be the best, and yet it would take weeks for it to work, while the hug worked immediately. The next thing I knew, words were coming out of my mouth. “Esther, I want you to come into the office every afternoon that I am here, for a great big hug. I think we can avoid the medication and just use this new treatment to handle your depression.” Esther laughed. “Are you serious, Dr. Glatt?” “I’m serious,” I said. As I walked her out to the reception area, I came up with a plan. “Just call first, to make sure I’m in the office, then come over. Tell my staff you are there for your hug, all right Esther?” “Yes, thank you, Dr. Glatt. Oh, thank you!” Esther walked out, still smiling, her shoulders relaxed and straight under her heavy coat. After she left I followed up with my staff. I knew there was no code for billing Medicare for hugging, so I decided to make this free. “We’ll fit her in between my other patients.” Confused, but smiling, they agreed. The rest of the afternoon passed as usual. I didn’t have time to really take in what had just happened, yet, as the days passed, I began contemplating what to do, what direction to go. One small, senior patient had absolutely shifted the way I thought about practicing medicine. Obviously hugging had done something positive, with immediate results. Yet it went against everything I had been taught as a medical student. Yes, it sounded very nice to be able to increase brain serotonin levels in people who are depressed, but I began wondering if that was too limiting, too narrow. If one hug works with depression, what else can this sort of caring do? I started to expand my thinking, going to workshops, reading books, hungry to understand how this new discovery could impact larger areas of medicine. This journey and my subsequent discoveries form the stories that fill this book. Some of the areas that I will cover in later chapters include stories about comatose patients, patients with cancer, and patients who have far-away strangers praying for them. I will share my approach to immunological diseases that are related to anxiety and stress. I will also look at the challenges of integrating my approach in a world where high-tech has replaced simple human interactions, where remote work and school have become the norm. I will also examine ways to bring back connection and caring in a world alienated and isolated by Covid-19. I wasn’t always someone who advocated hugging, love, and compassionate listening as a way to approach patient care. I didn’t go looking to change the way I practiced medicine. It all can be drawn back to that afternoon when a small, frantic woman begged me to send her back to a mental institution. A volcanic shift happened when I found myself hugging Esther, a shift that has resulted in so many stories that have made my medical career a great adventure, one that I am now excited to be able to share with you.” (William Glatt, Hug Power: Stories about a physician’s journey of healing and love, 6-9 (Kindle Edition): Independently Published)
None of this is to suggest that there isn’t value in the proper and legitimate administration of drugs, but to introduce the possibility that there may also be medicinal value to acts of affection like hugs. With that in mind, consider that the Bible encourages us to remember to “hug” God in Deuteronomy 10:20.
“I would like to focus on just one word in the above verse: “cling.” In the Hebrew, this word is devek (קבד). To render it as “to cling” is really to sell it short, since the idea is not like clinging to a rock or a tree during a storm so you do not get blown away. This word is an expression of love and respect—an embrace or a hug….Rabbinic literature teaches that a devek (קבד) is a high and deep stage of spiritual development in which the seeker attaches himself or herself to God and exchanges individuality for a profound partnership with Him. The force behind a devek (קבד) is a love of God and a desire for intimacy or closeness with Him. Is that or is that not the definition of a hug?…When reading Deuteronomy 10: 20, therefore, we must take note that God is not calling us to cling to Him like a parasite or a leech. This thing is two-sided. God will cling to us if we will cling to Him. He will give us a hug if we will give Him a hug. The picture is that of two lovers embracing each other. Devek (קבד) is not a group hug. It is a hug between two individuals—you and God. When God embraces you, it is as if there is no other being in this universe but you. He gives you His full, complete attention in a devek (קבד). God does not live within time. He does not know the barriers of the past or the future. Thus, He can move back and forth through time as easily as we walk through air. He can spend each second and moment with you, and then just move through time and spend each second and moment with me. I believe that is how He is omnipresent. You have His complete and full attention every second of your life. He has nothing else to do but stand in front of you with His arms open wide, waiting for you to step into those arms so He can give you a devek (קבד), or a hug. We usually come to God with a handful of “give me’s.” Yet if you wanted to protect the heart of the person you love most, the easiest thing to do would be to give that person a hug. Similarly, to protect the heart of the God whom you love, you need to take a little time to enter into a devek (קבד) and allow Him to give you a hug, and then give Him a hug in return. Fear the Lord, serve the Lord, and—while you are at it—give Him a devek (קבד).” (Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study: Revealing The Heart Of God, 508-547 (Kindle Edition); New Kensington, PA; Whitaker House)
Perhaps the stresses of life can be better dealt with by hugging God more often and more deeply.
Lord, thank You for loving us and embracing us as Your children. Help us through the trying and stressful situations that we face. In Jesus Name, Amen.