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Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
This may be more a ‘guy’ thing than a trait of the human race, but have you ever noticed how hard it is to ask for help on some project? If something is too heavy for you but you can ‘manage to move it’ you risk hurting your back before asking for help. You make due with the wrong tool before going to the neighbor to borrow his when you know he has just what you need and will be happy to loan it to you. You struggle with some problem at home or at work for hours before asking for advice on how to get it done. Come on now, admit it. You’ve done it. We all have.
Why is that? What is it within our human psyche that makes us risk our very lives before asking for help? It could be that we think the job is too small to ask for help. Even though it’s more than we can handle we don’t want to bother someone else with our problems. Perhaps it’s a question of image. We feel like we’ll look bad, inadequate or stupid for seeking out assistance, or that we aren’t worthy of anyone’s help.
What’s true in our physical lives is true in the spiritual realm as well. When a severe crisis happens like cancer or job loss or relational destruction, we ask for prayer. We even pray ourselves. Usually people pray more often in crisis than any other time.
We read verses like Hebrews 4:16 and may be misled into thinking that the verse is telling us that we can (or should) only approach God in our time of need. However, we may insert ‘great need’ in there without thinking.
We look at our lives and think we shouldn’t bother God with trivial things in life, only the big things. We remember our failings and hesitate to come to him because there is sin in our lives. We look at people who don’t believe in prayer and take the attitude that ‘if they don’t need help, I don’t need help.’
Here’s a tidbit of advice for all of us as we go about our day; as we encounter the little annoyances of our life. Don’t believe the lie that God is only interested in hearing from you in crisis. He wants to hear about everything going on.
Have a problem with a co-worker talking too much at work? Tell your Father in heaven about it. Can’t quite figure out how to finish that project at home? Tell him that too. As Christ-follower we need to constantly remind ourselves that God isn’t in heaven. He’s here! We pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask his Kingdom to be here on earth but live as though he’s far away.
Your Heavenly Father is with you 24/7. No problem is too large or too small for him to handle. Nothing you can do or say to him will be considered unimportant or uninteresting. After all. YOU are HIS child! What loving father doesn’t look forward to hearing about his child’s day? He cherishes the time he can have with you.
PRAYER: Father I confess that this verse is one I think of often when I’m in crisis. There are so many times I avoid asking for help because of my own feelings of inadequacy, guilt or because I don’t think it’s important enough to bother you. Forgive me for thinking you aren’t interested or willing to help me in the mundane things of life. Empower me to see you as a constant, present and interested friend. In Jesus name, Amen.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
A storm moves through in the middle of the night. The windows shake from the wind. The yard is as light as mid-day from frequent lightning. On one particular crash of thunder small feet are heard running down the hall. As if with one motion she snuggles in securely between her mom and dad. ‘Safe from the storm’ she soon falls back asleep completely oblivious to the raging storm outside.
What was it that drove the little one to the arms of her father and mother? Were they able to save her from the storm? Should a tornado have wiped out the neighborhood would she have been spared because she was in their arms? The storm certainly didn’t let up. It wasn’t any quieter in their room.
What drove her to the arms of her parents was the calm assurance in her mind that safety rested there. In the arms of her father the lightning became a nothing more than a light show. The sounds of the wind, rain and thunder became music to lull her to sleep. The storm could be weathered just fine when she was in the arms of her father.
When we rest in the arms of our Heavenly Father there is calmness in the storm. He is God. He is holy. The word ‘Holy’ is a word that means set a part. One notch above the rest of the world. Unaffected by circumstances.
Because he is a holy God, the things that frighten me have no effect on him. The things that pull me down won’t contain him or change his focus or actions.
When I fail it affects how I view myself. It affects how I react to other people. It changes my outlook on life. Small problems seem bigger. Mole hills become mountains. But when I fail it doesn’t affect how God views me. Not with Jesus by my side.
When I struggle with sin I feel hopeless and defeated. But with God there is no such thing as hopeless. Defeat isn’t in his vocabulary. When life takes different turns for me and I don’t understand how I got in the situation I’m in, I get confused and discouraged. God never gets discouraged, never gets sidetracked, never gets distracted by simple, mortal earthly things. He is on a higher plain which is unaffected by humans.
I can’t control everything that comes my way. I can’t change decisions that I’ve made in the past that haunt me now. I can’t see the future so that my choices today will guarantee my comfort or safety. I can’t control everything that comes my way…but my God can.
PRAYER: Holy Father. As the storms of life swirl around me today there will be times when fear grips me like an iron fist. Times when confusion clouds my ability to choose wisely. Times when I want to lash out rather than listen. Empower me by your Spirit during these times to be still. Even though life may be loud around me, help me to be still in your arms of safety and love. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1
Imagine David on the hillside. Alone in the wilderness. Nothing but the sound of sheep snoring in the dark and an occasional twig snapping as some unknown visitor scouts the perimeter of his camp.
As the fire dies his attention is drawn straight above him. Around him is darkness, but above him is the splendor of heaven. Millions and millions of stars. Stars that looked like pin holes in black paper to him but were, in reality huge, energy emitting balls of gas billions of miles away!
I can’t help but believe that the time David spent in the wilderness alone was time spent learning about the majesty of God. His courage in fighting Goliath; his patience and grace in running from Saul; his wisdom in leading a nation and his acceptance of God’s discipline in the ‘Bathsheba Affair’ didn’t come from wrestling lions and bears or herding stupid sheep!
David’s character was built spending time in God’s creation communing with him in solitude and worship. It’s appalling to me to realize that one Sunday a year some churches ‘celebrate’ Darwin’s lie about origins. People who claim to believe in the God of the Bible applaud a system of belief (evolution) which discredits what the Bible says about God creating everything we see as well as the unseen world.
David would have been horrified at the thought! He’d say to us, “Look at the heavens! How can you possibly doubt a God who made all this!”
Life can be hard sometimes. Relationships fail us. Sleep evades us. Children/parents disappoint us. The darkness of our sin or the way we are treated by others surrounds us and fills us with fear and despair. When that happens, look up! If God can make the millions of stars in the sky he can handle whatever you are going through.
There is no sin too great that he can’t forgive. No illness to harsh that he can’t heal and/or comfort. No relationship he can’t mend. It was in the darkness that David formed a character that gave him the title of “A man after God’s own heart.” It is in the darkness that each of us must grow our character as well. We don’t develop character in the light of day and the comfort of a palace. We learn character in the darkness of a hillside wilderness.
PRAYER: Holy God. As with David, I ask that my eyes would be drawn to the heavens. Help me to see your power and majesty in the world you have created around me. Empower through your Holy Spirit to have the courage to believe in you as I endure the struggles that lay ahead of me. Just as the heavens declare your majesty, may my character declare your grace and power to love others and live for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
Here’s a math question for you. If a train leaves Philadelphia traveling east at 55 miles per hour how long will it be until it gets there…to the east that is? Don’t spend too much time thinking on that one. The answer is easy. It won’t make it. East just keeps going.
You can go north but eventually you will reach a point where you are going south. You can go south but, again, only for time and then you are going north. We have a north pole and a south pole to designate the furthest possible point we can go in that direction. We don’t have an east and a west pole because they never, ever meet!
That is the word picture the Psalmist wants each of us to have when it comes to our sin. Some of the sin in our lives is the result of intentional acts against others. We sin in the things we say without thinking. We sin by not doing the things we know we should do. We sin by making well thought out choices and by making flippant choices without thinking of how they will affect others, or ourselves.
Sin happens. And with each sin, each wrong choice, each rebellious act we take, there are consequences to our sin. Some of those consequences are physical ones which will affect us our whole lives. Some affect us relationally and can destroy marriages, friendships and careers. But all sins affect us spiritually.
Our Father in Heaven loves us dearly. But much as he’d like to, he can’t have a relationship with us if there is sin in our lives. It drives a wedge between us. That’s why he sent Jesus. Jesus came to remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. But the east and the west can never meet. They are forever the same distance from each other. In the same way our sins and their punishment are removed to an eternal distance by his mercy and grace. We may carry some of the consequences of wrong choices with us, but our punishment has been forever removed!
Fly as far as the wings of your imagination can take you. You can never find the place where a trace of your sin in God’s mind. It’s gone! Since your sin is so far removed you need never fear that it will be brought back to haunt you. You are free!
Don’t let the enemy try to get you to think differently. Don’t let others drag the memory of your sin before you to accuse you. Don’t let your own mind feel defeated because of your past. Live in the freedom of Christ’s eternal forgiveness.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I make so many mistakes. It seems like every time I turn around I’m hurting someone by my words or actions or doubting your promises to provide or taking matters into my own hands and making bad situations worse. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you that my sin is eternally removed from your mind. You are a great and wonderful Savior. Amen.
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14
The English definition of compassion is a ‘sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.’ While that is a noble gesture, the English word for compassion doesn’t come close to giving us the picture God intends for us to have of compassion ‘God’s way’.
The Greek word for compassion in Matthew 14 is the word splanchnizomai. Okay, it doesn’t really matter how it’s pronounced. What’s more important is what it means to you and me. The word translated in English means ‘from the gut’. It gives the idea that Jesus didn’t just have a ‘sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress.
When Jesus saw the leper he actually FELT his loneliness right down to his shoe laces…okay, sandal straps. Even so, it wasn’t just a kind gesture. He actually felt the despair of the young mom whose daughter was lying dead in the upper room. His eyes teared up as he climbed the stairs while mourners wailed in the background. He felt the fear that gripped the father as he watched his son go into yet another demon-powered seizure. He felt the darkness and confusion of the blind man who had never seen the faces of his mother or father or any of the other family members that cared for him on a daily basis.
One of the most meaningless statements a person can make to someone is, “I know exactly how you feel.” Have you ever had someone say that to you? Come on now, be honest. Just between you and me, didn’t you want to deck them? Didn’t every nerve in your body want to scream “NO YOU DON’T! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY KNOW HOW I FEEL?” Maybe you’ve even decked a few people physically or emotionally. The words flew out before you could be ‘socially appropriate’.
Fact of the matter is. You were right. No one can climb inside your heart and feel what you are feeling. No one that is except Jesus. You may not always feel his presence, but he’s aware of every one of your thoughts, emotions and pain. His gut hurts when he feels the pain you are in. That’s compassion. That’s Jesus.
He doesn’t only feel your pain every bit as much as you do. He wants to heal you. He wants to build a relationship with you that enables you to sleep through the storms, to endure the trials and overcome the enemy. He’s never too tired. Never to angry with you. Never far away.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you for the fact that you not only understand my pain, you feel it from the bottom of your gut. No one understands my pain. No one sees how much I’m hurting inside like you do. Help me to feel your presence in my life in a way I’ve never felt before. Forgive me for my part in the bad choices I’ve made. Empower me with your Spirit to grow in relationship with you. In your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 