Approach With Confidence

When we’re hurting we usually feel alone. Abandoned. Forsaken. Sometimes we feel we are the only ones who are – or have – ever felt this way. No one cares. No one appreciates. No one understands.

Of course that isn’t true. We may even know it’s not true, but it certainly feels true.

And when we feel that way, in the moment, hope seems, at best, fleeting.

That’s true not just when we are hurting, but also when we are crushed by our sins. When we have separated ourselves from God’s plan and actions – again. When we have rebelled against the One who loves us beyond comprehension.

And He didn’t just say it, He showed it. In the flesh. On the cross. Through and empty tomb. The sinless One became sin for us.

We know that, but we often think of it more as an abstraction. A truth that’s far away from our reality. A nice narrative to just be believed.

Our text today brings this truth home!

Jesus’ time on earth wasn’t just manifested on the cross and in the tomb. It was also in His living. He came like us; to be weak like us; to be tempted like us. He came to experience our sufferings, to sympathize with our weaknesses, to endure our failures.

And then to overcome them. For us! Forever!

Now, whenever we feel broken, hurt, alone; when we feel unforgiven, abandoned, or lost, we can look to Jesus, who understands. Who truly and fully understands. Who perfectly understands. And who, because of His abiding, enduring love for us, goes to the Father on our behalf, intervening for us and lifting us up out of the mire and muck and walking with us through the hurts and pains.

Jesus came to suffer, die, and rise for our forgiveness and salvation. But He continues even today to intervene when we loose sight of eternity because of our temporality. And His grace and mercy extend both to the there-and-not-yet as well as to the here-and-now!

What an amazing God we have. What a wonderful Savior! What a loving Lord!

Scriptures

• Psalm 119:9-16 [Confession and Absolution]
• Hebrews 4:14-16