I live ever in His presence,
Every thought a
prayer to Him.
He accepts my every penance,
And forgives my
every sin.
One day face to face I’ll see Him
But for now He says He’s here,
Even though I cannot see Him,
He holds me close and says I’m dear.
Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16)
That is so precious to us, such a source of confident assurance. We aren’t afraid of going directly to Him at any time, BUT, there is a difference between approaching God boldly, and approaching God BRASHLY. Because of Christ we can come boldly. We must, however, come with reverence and awe, not flippantly and carelessly.
God warned Israel, “...day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ...Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please ... You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” (Isa 58:2-4)
There must be a fear of God’s holiness. God tells us that “If I cherish sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (Psalm 66:18) When Esther needed to plead with King Ahasueras for her people she approached him uninvited in fear, knowing her life depended on his mood that day. He raised his scepter to her and she breathed a sigh of relief. You never need fear; you are always invited; His ear is always open to you, BUT sometimes before He will grant my request, He must use His scepter to spank me, not because I am coming boldly, but because I am coming brashly. James 4 tells us, “…When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your lusts.” What you actually are doing is you are trying to make God a partner in your lusts.
There is a difference between bold &
BRASH. We have a collection of crystal glasses & china. Sometimes we boldly set the table with the finest, except at the toddler’s place. That would be brash. Today I boldly got in my car to drive down a busy road to work with the thought, “Please keep me safe, Lord.” It would be brash to drive 90 down the road! Boldness is a careful confidence. Brashness is a cocksure carelessness.
Paul exclaims in Romans 6:1,2 “… Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!...” But that is just what we are doing! Day after day we seek Him out; we seem eager to know His ways, as if we were a person who does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of God. We ask Him for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near. Yet in our living we do as we please. We cannot worship as we do today and expect our voice to be heard on high. We flirt with sin, seeing how close we can get to the edge of Christian liberty without going over. We would never commit adultery ourselves but we entertain ourselves with the adultery and immorality of others. We go ahead and gossip and complain because they aren’t “big” sins. We are presuming on God’s Grace!
But hear what God says. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps 51:17) Whatever happened to our conviction, shame over our sin, and relief and exultation over redemption? Shall we argue with God, disregard God, be casual about God? God forbid! Don’t be brash with God! Do be bold through Jesus Christ. Romans 6:4 tells us that just as the Father raised up Jesus Christ, we too are made able by Him to live in newness of life!
Wilbur and Orville Wright’s father said, “If God intended man to fly he would have made him with wings.” They flew on wings God enabled them to make! In the 60’s we used to see VW vans with, “Got wheels, will travel,” on them. You’ve got spiritual legs! Walk! You’ve got wings! Fly! The Christian life is real life! We have things the world doesn’t have. Intimately ours is the God of laughter and joy; stillness and peace; purpose and meaning; rejoicing and fun; victory and power! Paul said, “For me to live is Christ!” Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly!” He also said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Enjoy the intimate presence of Jesus Christ!